A Ghost from the Past
by HavokQueen
Summary: I have decided that this story isn't written or going the way I want to. My writing style has changed quite a lot since I have started and I am not satisfied with most of the chapters or the characters. For the new year I have decided to rework and edit major parts of the story. I will add more conversations, character moments and flesh out the story.
1. Chapter 1

A/N:

So, I love "The Gifted" and I really needed to write a fanfiction about it. Since I am going to use a character who first showed up in X-men First Class: Alex Summers, I am warning that time lines and years don't matter here. I don't intend to figure out in what year does the show take place or how old Alex would be at that time, because he would be very old. For all the Eclaris fans... this is definitely not for you. So, no hate, you are warned. The story takes place after episode 10 of "The Gifted" So, enjoy!

* * *

Alex Summers was many things. A soldier, a leader, an X-man, but it didn't matter anymore. His friends and family were gone and he was alone in a dark world. His little brother was gone too and it was his fault. He couldn't protect him, couldn't help him. It was his responsibility and he had failed once more, like so many years ago in a plane crash that Alex believed Scott had died in along with his parents.

 _"Take your brother's hand. You have to help him open his parachute and then open your own. Take care of him, take care of each other. We love you both so much"_

He opened his eyes looking out of the window of the bus. The memory of the burning plane, his mother's face right before it blew up, Scott flying next to him. The burning parachute. It was so fresh in his mind and it happened so many years ago. Alex wanted to scream every time he thought about it.

Three years had passed and the situation hasn't changed, quite the opposite in fact. It has gotten worse. Scott had died without seeing their dream achieved. Actually most of the X-men had died that way. Legends often died without witnessing their goal reached. It wasn't fair, but life rarely was. Alex had found Scott one time and it had been a miracle. Now he lost his little brother again and Alex had lost a second chance. The universe never gives a third one. So many names flew in his head. Charles, Hank, Sean, Jean, Ororo and so much more. They were all gone or he knew that much. There was still hope that they might be alive.

Alex wanted to laugh. Charles really had gotten under his skin with his constant talk about hope and a better future. He wasn't going to doubt his mentor's lessons right now though, even if darker thoughts had crossed his mind on some occasions. Only the hope was keeping him from snapping. He was aware that he was screwed up for three years now. Time didn't heal all wounds, it just helped numb the pain, bury it, but it was always there like a hellish reminder.

His whole life Alex fought for the better future that Charles had talked about. The dream of peaceful coexistence was never accomplished and the feeling was crushing him. The Mutant Underground was his last chance to fight for his kind. Maybe even see Charles's dream come true, if indeed his mentor was dead, Alex could at least continue his legacy. He owned him that much after all he had done for him.

Moving from place to place was awfully hard, but Alex was used to it by now. He traveled light with a small bad with only a couple of stuff he could take. Hiding his mutation wasn't that hard either. Yes, they were days when he had just wanted to send a blast at some asshole, but he had always restrained himself in time.

After the 7/15 everything had gone to hell. He hadn't seen all of the bodies of his friends. Alex hadn't been even sure whose body he saw. It had been just too damn confusing. Gun shots and raging powers everywhere. He had been sure for one thing. One body that he had seen, one person that he had been sure was gone, one ghost that would chase him for the rest of his life: Scott. A Purifier had shot him right through the brain. His brother didn't even see where it had come from. A part of Alex's soul had flickered away that day, a big part that he couldn't take back anymore. Something dark took its place. Havok had almost killed that Purifier. He couldn't stop himself, the rage and pain overwhelming him. Memories of his time with his little brother flew through his mind and he didn't even know what doing, but a presence in his head stopped him.

 _"Scott wouldn't have want that. This isn't you"_

 _"No, he wouldn't, but I do._

Jean didn't let him do it, her telepathy too strong to resist. Alex had told her to let him go, but she had refused. He had been both grateful to Jean and hated that she had stopped him. He had just wanted to kill that monster, but with a part of himself he knew she was right. Jean had reminded him of who he was that moment, when he felt only pure rage flow thought his blood. Scott wouldn't have wanted that. His little brother who had looked up to him. He wasn't going to fail him, to fail anyone of the lost X-men, or Charles. On the other hand, he had wished Jean had let him do it.

Alex had killed before. Yes, there was no other choice, but to do it for the sake of his teammate. He had talked to Charles about it, told him that he would do it again to save his friends and to get back to Scott. Even if that made him a monster.

Still there was part of him that was on the edge to just give up, wanting to die too, like the others. He felt weak and ashamed. There was also another part, that was dark and violent the part that wanted to kill that Purifier. It took him everything to keep his mind together, to continue, to find the Mutant Underground and help them. 7/15 was a day he would always remember. Not just because of the people he had lost, but also because of the scars on his face, that would always remind him of his failure. How can you forget the day that took away everything from you? Simple answer for a simple question. You can't. It will hunt you, wake you up in the middle of the night, trying to break you until you give in.

The bus stopped and he got out carrying his bag over his shoulder. He pulled the scrubby paper out of his pocket. Now he only needed to contact them.


	2. Chapter 2

The Mutant Underground leaders and the Strucker family were back at the HQ after Sonya's funeral.

Lorna's whole world was falling apart slowly and that made it hurt more. This day the realization hit her hard. The realization that in their world there was only hate and pain. Her best friend was now dead, killed by a madman with a goal to end and lock up all mutants.

She went to her and Marcos's room without looking back. Polaris needed some time alone, at least a minute or two to get herself back together. The others couldn't see her that way, that vulnerable with everything she believed in shaken.

Lorna entered closing the door behind her, sinking to her knees fighting angry tears. She was sure she had heard Marcos calling her name a couple of times, but she couldn't go to him now. He was worried, but Lorna needed to grief on her own.

She was helpless, the feeling eating her from the inside. How could she bring a baby to this world, an innocent little child? Her baby would be born in to a world, where mutants were hated and feared just because they were different. They were chased and locked up for no reason and that baby may have the same fate.

The metal in the room started vibrating violently, so many emotions blurring in Lorna's mind. There was a slight knock on the door.

"Babe?" She could hear Marcos from the other side. "Are you okay?" He sounded worried.

Lorna calmed herself down and the metal stopped vibrating, the green glow from her eyes gone too.

"I am fine" The lie escaped from her lips. A big, fat lie and she felt like punching herself for it. She had never lied to Marcos, for anything.

"Can I come in?" Marcos asked

"Yes" Lorna said her voiced breaking at the end. She had to keep it in, but her emotions were taking the best of her.

The door opened and Marcos came in, his eyes full of sadness and concern. Sonya was his friend too. He sank next to her and held her in his arms.

"It is okay" He whispered, but part of her felt that he wasn't sure himself.

"How is anything okay? " Lorna asked, the words coming out hard.

"It will be, I know it" Marcos said, still holding her.

"Marcos, I can't bring this baby in this world. It is inhumane" She finally said.

Next to her Marcos stiffened and sighed sadly.

"I know, it is hard, but we can do this together. We are a team, right?"

"We are a team" Lorna said and heard Marcos's phone ringing from his pocket.

Why now? It was always at the worse time imaginable. Lorna hugged herself, feeling cold and empty. The sadness had taken her in its embrace and she wanted to escape. Lorna was sick of feeling grief and pain.

"You should probably take this." She said at last, wiping a tear from her face, annoyed.

Marcos sighed, irritated as well. If the phone was ringing, then it should be important. Not everyone had the number.

"Hello" He said as he picked up.

"I will need the Mutant Underground's help with something" The voice one the other side of the line was raspy and Lorna wondered what would this person want. Maybe it was a mutant in trouble?

"Which is?" Marcos asked

"We will have to meet. Explaining over a phone call is a little harder." The voice, who clearly belonged to a man, said.

"Tex's Lounge, Atlanta, Georgia, 17:00 p.m. " Marcos said

"See you there" The voice confirmed and hung up.

"That was a quick conversation" Marcos said turning back to Lorna.

"Maybe they don't have time" She said, not really caring. "Are you going alone?" Lorna asked. She really didn't want to go, but if Marcos needed her she would. Everything was just too much at the moment.

Marcos nodded and she was thankful that he didn't ask her.

"Good luck" She got up and kissed him, her lips smashing into his. Lorna felt warmth spread thought her body.

"I will be back soon" Marcos said after the kiss ended.

He headed out of the room and closed the door behind him and Lorna was left with her own thoughts and grief.

She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. Sonya was dead, they were targeting them one by one. Polaris didn't intend to stay and watch it all happen, they had to make a stand and stop hiding. This baby didn't deserve to call this hateful world home and to have to endure that horror.

She was sure that Esme will be coming back after the reunion with her sisters. They wanted to stop the Hound program as much as the Underground.

Lorna's thoughts were flying around freely. Some were for her dead friend, her body still in Campbell's laboratory. Some were for the triplets and wonder, what would they do next. Most of Lorna's thoughts were about the baby growing inside of her. Would be it be okay? She had already had a nightmare about what can happen to her baby and family.

Here and now Lorna swore that she wouldn't let it happen, whatever the cost was. No more dead mutants. She owned Sonya to make things right with the world and above all, she owned it to her child, because that is what parents do. The make the world better for their child and keep it safe. Lorna would do it with whatever means necessary.


	3. Chapter 3

Alex hung up the phone and put it back into his pocket. The meeting was arranged and now he only had to reach the place.

Tex's lounge was near the area he was in,so getting there would be quick.

He ran a hand through his hair as he turned around the corner. Alex wasn't sure what to expect the Underground to be. When Charles had established the network he had choosen John Proudstar to be the leader. Alex hadn't minded that decision, so he had nodded, expressing his approval.

Thunderbird was a good person and he had leader capabilities. Charles had choosen one more leader thought, but Alex didn't know the name. He had sent Evangeline to try and recruit the mysterious mutant.

Charles hadn't been sure if she would accept. The Professor hadn't told the X-men about it for some reason or other. Maybe he had wanted the girl to keep her identity a secret.

It was exactly 17:00 p.m. when Alex entered the bar. He looked around and saw a man with dark hair at the end of the room. He raised his hand from the table and it glowed with bright light. Alex moved to his direction with a sharp nod and sat down in the chair against him.

"So, how did you get the number?" Marcos asked leaning back in his seat.

"A friend of mine gave it to me" Alex said hesitating for a second. He was there to help them, but would he do it as an X-man. Would they ask a lot of questions, which he isn't ready to answer? Alex thought for a second. He was still an X-man. He was one his whole life and didn't intend to stop being one, even if the team was gone.

"Professor X did, I believe you have heard of him." He said at last.

Marcos's eyes widened in surprise. Of course, he had heard of the Professor. The man who established the X-men and the one, who originally founded the Underground.

"So you want to join us, I guess?" Marcos asked.

Alex nodded and looked the man in the eye. Was he one of the leaders of the Underground? He only had remembered Thunderbird being assigned to it and the Professor talking about a woman that he wanted to recruit being the second leader.

After all 3 years had passed since the Underground had been established, leadership changed, as everything else in life did. Another leader shouldn't surprise him, it was stupid.

"I believe I can help you save mutants, to fight back" Alex said. He knew that with the development of the "Hound" program things were going to be tough in the near future, they could use help in their fight.

Alex didn't want to admit that maybe he needed them more that they him. After the X-men disbanded, Alex needed to find a way to fight for the cause that started all those years ago. He was part of the first class, he couldn't just let it all to end.

"We have a standard procedure regarding people joining. They will have to check on your past, to be sure we can trust you and you are not lying. The Underground is built on trust." Marcos explained.

Alex could see how hesitant the man in front of him was. Good. He didn't trust people easily and these days, that was a good quality.

"My name is Alexander Summers or Havok" Alex said bluntly. "You can check on whatever you want." He shrugging.

"Marcos Diaz" The man said, finally deciding to introduce himself. Not that Alex really cared if Marcos would tell him his name, making friends wasn't a priority. "Then we have a deal" He stood up giving his hand for a shake.

Alex stood up as well, shaking Marcos's hand. "I expected a full integration" He smirked.

"That number is pretty hard to get" Marcos said

"Then how do mutants in trouble reach you?" Alex asked rising a brow. Curiosity overhelmed him, even if we knew that staying at one place for too long might be dangerous.

"Most of the times we find the mutants in trouble, but we have two networks for connection. The first number is easier to find by mutant refugees and such and the second one is more is more of a private line. We haven't used it until now." The man explained and Alex nodded.

"Good, I was staring to worry that you are too trusting with so little questions" Alex said his tone cold. Again, making friends wasn't a priority, but that was probably going to be a problem. As Marcos said, the Underground was built on trust, they were probably something like a family.

Alex did not intend to get close to these people and then lose them. That is what it happened, every damn time. It happened with his parents, with his childhood best friend, his brother, two times, and the X-men, who were like a family to him.

He thought of a new rule for himself. Don't try to be friendly with all of them, just the usual business talk. Don't let your guard down, even for a second. Keep the cold exterior on your face and keep it there.

Alex was sure that this will do the work. Of course he didn't want them to hate him, but he wanted them to know, that he wasn't the type to talk much. Not that he usually was.

If Sean was here and knew what Alex was thinking, he would probably roll his eyes and make sure Alex had noticed. He would say something about how Alex needed new friends, to distract him and make him feel welcomed.

Alex could almost hear his friend's voice in his head, talking and talking. For the first time in forever he felt like laughing. Sean was one of a kind.

The good feeling he had experienced drowned two seconds later, when Alex realized that Sean was probably dead. His stomach rolled up into a ball.

"We are not naive" Marcos said rather defensively.

Alex had forgotten that he had said something. "Never said that" He replied shrugging. "Are we going?"

"Yes, we are." Marcos said and the men left the lounge.


	4. Chapter 4

Marcos arrived with the man, that introduced himself as Alex in the Headquarters. Introduced would be a inaccurate word, it was more like Alex gave him his name to look into it later, as Marcos said to check if they could trust him. Marcos was sure that he had heard of the X-man Havok before. He just didn't remember when. If that was true, then they would have a former X-men on their side. That was an useful advantage, considering the Frosts involvement in the whole situation during the past weeks.

Marcos was still angry at what Esme did. He was more angry at himself, because he let it happen, even when he was sure that the idea to attack Trask Industries was bad. She had come into their lives, screwed their plans a little bit and ended up winning as she gained back her sisters and the Underground lost Sonya. Esme convinced them to go and try to infiltrate the lab. They shouldn't have listened to her and now the price was paid for that mistake.

The trip to the Headquarters was a silent one. Neither of the two man talked. Marcos didn't mind that at all, but silence gave him plenty of time to think. He had found his thoughts driving back to Sonya. Another one of his friends dead. The thoughts he had overwhelmed his mind with weren't pleasant.

Marcos went to Sage with Alex following him.

"First, we need to check up your history as I said earlier"

"Sage, can you check a name for me? " Marcos asked looking at the mutant. She looked past his shoulder at Alex and narrowed her eyes

"Of course." She nodded

"It won't take you a lot of time, I am sure" Marcos said ''The name is Alexander Summers. You should look up for a mention of the codename Havok."

Sage began typing on the keyboard, the sound reverberating throughout the whole room filled with computers and hard drives.

"I found the information" She declared and Marcos looked at the screen.

There were a couple of decoded files from the CIA and a little more information here and there. A document that made Alex an offcial gardian of a kid named Scott. It wasn't written straight away, but it was true. He was an X-man, part of the first class founded by Charles Xavier originally called Division X. Of course, there was a chance that this man could be lying for everything and had just managed to steal a former X-men's identity and the whole information.

Marcos found that a way too paranoid thougt, but he decided to keep an eye on Alex for a while, just to be sure. He couldn't consentrate only on that though. Right now the situation in the Underground was intense enough, because of the triplets. Some of the members didn't trust them at all, some thought that they have saved them. Marcos was the first type, but he was also sure that they will be coming back. These girls wanted something, so they would take it, it seemed logical.

"Thank you Sage" Marcos said and looked back at Alex.

"It's all good" He said

Alex only nodded when he told him. Marcos got the feeling that he wasn't the talkative type or he didn't talk if it wasn't necessary.

"Now I will introduce you to the other leaders" Marcos said as he saw John going down the stairs with with Lorna behind him. Great timing. He approached them and he saw Lorna freeze her eyes widened. She was staring right at Alex like she had seen a ghost.

Her lips were moving wordless and Marcos frowned. What was happening? "Lorna are-" He couldn't finish his question as Lorna interrupted him in mid sentence.

"Alex?" She asked her voice only a little over a whisper.

In this moment Marcos had a million of questions he could ask Lorna, but now was not the right moment. Also, he was sure that she would explain everything in time. She looked shell-shocked, he face a mixture of confusion, happiness and anger. Marcos could definitely read the angry spark dancing in her eyes. What the hell was going on?

* * *

Lorna and John had gone both downstairs to check if Marcos was back from the meeting. She had tried to talk to John about Sonya while Marcos had been gone, but she couldn't find the right words. Lorna felt like she had to say something. She had agreed to this plan too, after all. It felt like she had owned her friend a little bit of support.

"I am sorry" She had finally said to him.

"It's not your fault, Lorna. There is nothing to be sorry about" John had said

"I am sorry that we keep losing the people we love, because of this war of survival" She had said "I am sorry that I listened to Esme and her stupid idea, even if we weren't ready to go in there." A feeling of guilt finding its place in her chest.

"You weren't the one who pulled the trigger. It was Campbell. It is his fault." John had said the pain and anger noticeable in his eyes, in his stance, in his very aura. Lorna could see that he was hurting from a mile away.

"We will make it right" Lorna had stated feeling the guilt fly away to make place for the anger that had rotted in her heart now. Campbell would pay by any means necessary and that was a promise she had made to herself then.

''I know" John said with a look of determination.

"And if you need something, I am here" She had said

"I know that too'' He had smiled slightly

Lorna spotted Marcos walking over to them. A man with a familiar blond hair and blue eyes was following him. Lorna concentrated, trying to remind herself, why was the man so familiar. He had looked at her right in the eyes and then Lorna remembered. Everything was the same, except for the burned left side of his face. His nose looked crooked too. There was a big scar over his right eye that wasn't there before.

Lorna felt herself freeze in one place. She couldn't move, couldn't think, so many emotions coming back hitting her with full force. Suddenly all of the world around her didn't matter anymore. All she could see were the deep blue eyes staring at her, expecting her to react, to say something. That couldn't be possible, but he was standing right in front of her.

 _Alex looked away from the window turning back to Lorna, who was observing her hair in the mirror._

 _"You know what is fun? " He asked moving towards her._

 _"What?" She asked looking at a lock of her green hair._

 _"Well, your favorite color is green and your hair is green now. It would have sucked if it was pink or blue" He said giving her a smile, trying to cheer her up._

 _Lorna chucked "You really are thinking about that right now? Why are you even telling me this? "_

 _"To make you feel better." He stated sympathy in his eyes. "Are you afraid of what your parents will say?"_

 _"I... I don't know „She said her voice cracking. Lorna wanted to believe that they will accept her with her mutation and hair, but she didn't know if they would. However, Alex did accept her and that was the most important part._

 _"I have an idea" Alex's face lightened up. "I am gonna go to the store and buy you hair dye. Then we will use it to make your hair the same as it was before, we can do it every time you see the green showing up"_

" _You will do that?" Lorna asked feeling tears gather in her eyes. How could she be so luck with him? She pushed them away and looked back at her friend._

 _"Of course" Alex said his tone serious „I will always help you Lorna, I will always be next to you"_

 _Lorna broke the distance left between them and hugged him, digging her finders into his back tightly._

 _"I love you" She whispered in his ear._

 _"I love you too" He said, hugging her back_.

She snapped back to reality where her oldest, best friend was looking at her with the same blue eyes, that she had looked into so many times before.

"Alex?" She finally managed to say her voice almost a whisper.

Lorna knew that Marcos and John were watching her, confused. They probably didn't know what to make out of the situation. Heck, she didn't even know what to make out of it herself. The only thing she knew was that Alex was here, alive and well. Everything else drowned away.

"Lorna?" Alex looked shocked as well, but Lorna saw a flame of shame in his eyes. How was that even possible?

"You are alive?" She asked her voice choking from the emotion.

Lorna wasn't even sure what she was feeling herself. Was she happy to see him or angry that somehow he ended up alive and she didn't know. She haven't seen him for almost a decade now. A wave of anger went through her. He was alive this whole time and didn't try to find her, to tell her.

She breathed in. The explanations could wait, right here, right now, Lorna wanted one thing. She ran to Alex, crossing the distance between them and hugged him tightly, burying her face into his chest, like she did so many years ago, when he had just suggested to help her cover her newly found green hair. She could feel him tensing for a second, but he hugged her back.

"I missed you so damn much, you dumbass" She said feeling tears rolling down her cheeks. It was pointless to try and stop them now.

There were a lot of questions that needed to be asked, but they had time. For the first time in forever Lorna felt like she had all the time in the world. This day she had lost a friend and got back another one. Things didn't seem that hopeless anymore


	5. Chapter 5

Alex had expected a slap or Lorna to yell at him, or anything else really. Instead she had hugged him, telling him she had missed him. He had almost stepped back from the shock, but something had kept him in his place. Probably the fact that he wanted Lorna to hug him, like she used to.

Alex tensed under her touch, but after a moment hugged her back, realizing how much he had ached to feel her body near his and look into her eyes again. Eyes, that weren't like anything he had seen before.

"I missed you too" He said feeling the warmth that came with the hug.

Everyone was staring now, but Alex didn't give a damn. This moment was his and Lorna's and he didn't want it to end. It did tough, when Lorna pulled away slowly. Alex looked at her green eyes, drowning in them for a second. All of their memories together flooded his mind.

 _Alex knocked on the door, hesitantly. The sleeve of his shirt was burned as well as his shoulder. It hurt, but Alex didn't care. At least the rain was making it better. Fear, threatened to overwhelm him. He was scared of what he could do to people with the red light. Scared that the people, who run the orphanage will found out what he did. What will happen when they find out?_

 _Lorna opened the door rubbing her eyes. "Alex? What are you doing herehere? it's late." She asked first confused, but Alex could see a shade of worry on her face._

 _"Get in and tell me what happened" She said and Alex could feel his mouth go dry._

 _What if Lorna would think he was some kind of freak?_

 _He took a hesitant step forward and walked inside her house. Lorna closed the door behind him and turned to face him. Without a warning she grabbed his arm and led him to the couch, sitting down._

 _Seconds felt like hours. Why did he come here? He should have known better. What would happen if she said she hated him for what he did? So many questions were swimming in his mind and Alex wasn't sure if he wanted them answered._

 _"You can tell me everything Alex." She said softly._

 _Alex took a deep breath and closed his eyed for a moment. That was Lorna Dane in front of him. His best friend, his support, his everything. She had been there when Alex was at his lowest, when he had just lost his whole family and the world had seemed a much darker place. She was there, when he felt like his life had ended at the age of 9. Lorna had decided to be friends with that angry boy, just because she wanted._

 _He opened his eyes and stared at hers._

 _"I..I.. had a nightmare and when I woke up... there was fire in my room... I think... it is my fault, Lorna" Alex explained his voice desperate, the dry feeling in his mouth had returned. "My hands were glowing with this red burning light and I did it. I set fire at the orphanage. Then I just freaked out...pulled the fire alarm and ran away... It's all my fault." He bowed his head down, feeling the shame and guilt crushing him. What would his father think of him if he had seen this?_

 _Lorna lifted his chin, so his eyes met hers._

 _"That was an accident" She said softly. "Did you want to do it?"_

 _The question caught him off guard and a wave of anger went thought him._

 _"Of course not!" Alex snapped._

 _He realized what he had done and tried to apologize, but Lorna cut him off before he could make the words get out of his mouth._

 _"Then it was an accident" Lorna stated leaving no room for argument._

 _"Lorna, I set my damn room on fire. That should be impossible. I am... I am some kind of freak" Alex said feeling the desperation creeping in the back of his mind again._

 _"No!" Lorna's tone was sharp, almost angry. "You are not a freak, Alex. You are special, you have a gift that no one else has" She said looking into his eyes. "Do you hear me? You are not a freak. You are a good person and an amazing friend." Lorna said "I want you to remember that and never forget it."_

 _Alex could feel a big burden falling from his shoulders, hearing Lorna saying those words. He could feel tears rolling down his cheeks, but he didn't care. It was too late to stop them anyway. Lorna wasn't afraid of him. That was important now. There was someone that cared about him and that was her._

 _The doubts from earlier seemed stupid and unreal. Lorna hadn't turned her back on him. He felt guilty for even considering that she would do it._

 _"Now, let's go to the kitchen and take care of that burn." She said softly_

 _Alex hugged her tightly, trying to express all of his gratitude and passion into one hug._

 _"Thank you Lorna" He said_

 _Lorna hugged him back "Always" She whispered._

 _She had said that is was a gift, but Alex knew that from now on, he won't be using that red light. Next time, he could hurt Lorna with it. It was dangerous, too dangerous._

Alex snapped back to the present. Lorna's bright green eyes still looking at him. All of this felt ages ago, a past that was long gone, like it was another live. A life far more innocent, even if it wasn't perfect.

Sometimes, when he couldn't fall asleep at night, Alex was wondering how did he got here. He was just a kid, who had lost his whole family in a plain crash, stuck in the foster system, who had found a friendship and love in the face of Lorna, when he had thought his life was over at the age of 9 and was just an angry, little brat.

A kid that hat gotten adopted by people who were searching for a replacement for their son, who had separated him from Lorna dragging him into another state.

A kid was so angry at his foster parents for separating him from Lorna, that had involved himself with the wrong company and ended up stealing just for the hell of it.

A kid, registered in the juvenile detention system at seventeen. A kid whose power were so uncontrollable that he ended up killing the man who threaten the foster sister, who at first he hated, because she had reminded him so much of the brother he had lost, but eventually grew on him.

A kid who had been tried as an adult, accused of murder at seventeen. A kid, whose entire life was ruined by the curse of that damned red light. A kid, whereon was shown a better way by a man, whose dream Alex had been fighting for since he was a teenager. A kid that had grown up to lead the first class of X-men, that practically had raised his brother and had helped train the second generation.

All of this felt so long ago, that it hurt. He could see their faces when he closed his eyes. Lorna was here thought, a living memory, a reminder of the simple times.

"We can talk if you want to" He said and Lorna nodded biting her lip. She was angry, Alex could tell. He was still surprised that she didn't punch him in the face after that hug. It probably took a lot from her not to do it.

"I will show you your room and we can talk there" She said, grabbing his arm in a hurry. Alex could say something was bothering her, but it was better to leave it alone now, he could ask later.

The room wasn't anything special, but Alex didn't even expect special. There was bed and that was enough. He wasn't fussy when it came down to that stuff. He turned to face Lorna and gave her a small smile.

"I know you probably have a lot of questions" He said and she simply nodded.

"I have to do something real fast and then I will come back and you can explain to me how the hell are you still alive!" She said, her tone coming out sharp.

Alex couldn't blame her for being mad at him. In her shoes, he would probably punch himself repeatedly, hard and right in the face. He was thankful that Lorna wasn't him in this moment.

"Take your time" was all he said before Lorna went out of the room, leaving him alone to look around.

He wondered how he should start. An apology was a good way to do it. She definitely deserved one. Then he would explain everything. The reason he didn't tell her he was alive. That also included sharing his past as an X-man.

Alex hoped Lorna wouldn't ask for details. It would be too painful to remember, to describe the life he had lost, but if Lorna demanded it, Alex would tell her everything in the slightest detail. She deserved that and Alex would try his best to give it her. He owned her that much, taking into an account the pain he had caused her.


	6. Chapter 6

Lorna leaned against the wall in front of Alex's room for a second. Everything was too much for her. First Sonya's funeral, now a ghost back from the dead. When she had first saw him, Lorna had been wondering if she had been imagining Alex in front of her. She had wondered if she had just snapped completly. Alex was real thought. He was right here, alive and well and Lorna couldn't be more happier and at the same time angrier. That asshole left her thinking her was dead for years. How was he even alive? She saw the building explode. It should have crushed him. Right now Lorna knew one thing. She had to find Marcos, Johnny and Clarice and explain what had happened. She practically ran out of the room with Alex. They were probably more confused than she was herself.

Lorna got back downstairs and looked around. They were still here, doing the usual. Like there was no stranger here a minute ago that Lorna had just hugged in front of them. She reached Marcos and tapped his shoulder. He turned to face her. Lorna saw no trace of anger, maybe just a little surprise, but nothing else.

"Hey," Lorna said I wanted to explain what happened. I know you are probably confused."

"I little, yeah," Marcos said frankly.

Lorna took a deep breath preparing herself, it won't be hard. She cleared her throat to get Clarice and Johnny's attention.

"Come on," She said and walked into one of the side rooms. Lorna waited for the other to get in and closed it, "It isn't that important. I figured you just need to know"

"It was a little weird. I agree with that," Clarice shrugged and John nodded.

"You don't need to tell us, if you don't want to, babe," Marcos said and Lorna smiled.

"It's okay," She said. "Alex and I, knew each other since we were kids. More or less we grew up together. He was adopted by some people from another state and he had to move, so we were separated. He would send me a letter every two weeks, but it wasn't the same. He had started sending letters more and more rarely and eventually stopped doing so. I thought he forgot about me and I had moved on. A few years later we met again and...well our friendship continued. One day he got some emergency signal and told me that he will explain everything when he gets back. I followed him, because I believed I could help. When I arrived there, Alex was helping get out people from a burning building, alound with others in uniforms with Xs on their belts. When he saw me, he told me he would explain everything. Then Alex went in to search for the last kid in the apartment...I saw the other X-men going tp the back of the building and then... it exploded. The police didn't let me go any further. I have believed he was dead ever since," Lorna finished her story fighting back angry tears.

Alex really made her believe he was dead. What if he did it on purpose? No, he wouldn't do that, would he? She was going to ask him every damn question. Lorna deserved to know the truth.

"I am sure everything will clear up when you talk to him," Marcos said

"I hope so," Lorna said and she really hoped Alex had an explanation. She didn't want to be angry at him, but she was.

"Don't worry. I am sure we has a good explanation. If he doesn't... beat him up," Clarice smirked and Lorna chuckled, feeling relief inside her.

"Good luck with the upcoming conversation, Lorna," Johnny said and looked at some mutants that were having a fight, "I am going to have to see what's going on" He said and exited the room.

"Everyone is still fighting over the accident with the Frosts," Clarice said her eyes dark.

"The situation is intense," Marcos agreed and looked at Clarice.

"Lauren was looking for you earlier," He said.

"I am going," Blink said and walked away

"Marcos, I have to tell you that... " Lorna began.

"You and Alex weren't just friends," He said looking at her green eyes, "I figured"

"Of course you did," Lorna murmured. Marcos didn't look angry, but why would he. That was a long time ago and Lorna was now with Marcos, expecting a baby.

Her boyfriend wasn't unreasonable.

"Thank you for being so understanding Marcos," Lorna said kissing him softly.

"For you, always, "Marcos said "Why were you going to tell me about you and Alex."

"Why wouldn't I? "Lorna answered with a question of her own.

"I don't know. That is dead and buried after all," He shrugged. "I thought that you won't mention it"

"The truth is that I don't know what Alex feels and I believe it's better if I have told you for us, instead of finding out another way," Lorna explained, not sure if her words made any sense. Of course she should now tell alex that she has a brother and was pregnant, but that definitely faded in the background of what Alex had to explain.

"I understand," Marcos smiled and Lorna couldn't help but kiss him again.

"I am going to talk to Alex now," Lorna said.

In reality she didn't want to. Yes, she wanted to know how was he alive, but Lorna was afraid she wouldn't like the answer. She didn't want to be told how her best friend didn't die and left her. Lorna didn't want to hear that she had lost Alex, but she had to do it.

"Good luck," Marcos said smiling and Lorna went out of the room.

Her hands clenched into fists. She remembered how angry she was, when she first saw him, but the anger quickly melted away. Now she wouldn't let it go away that easily.

Lorna walked up the stairs and went into Alex's room not bothering to knock. When she saw him he was standing and looking straight into her. Maybe the sudden slam of the door, surprised him.

"Look Alex. I don't want excuses, I want an explanation. Where the hell where you? How did you end up being alive? I saw that damn building explode. Why didn't you try to reach me somehow, at least to tell me that you are okay? I was ruined when you died...ruined, do you get that. I was left to pick up the pieces after that and move on with my life. After all these years, you come tell me that you love me, then go to chase some emergency signal out of nowhere and then die."

Lorna was almost out of breath after she said everything, still angry because of what had happened, angry at the man in front of her. The man she had known once as an hotheaded boy she had made friends with, a friendship that blossomed into so much more. He looked so different now: older, with scars and burns all over his face, the living spark almost gone and the fire in his eyes barely burning.

Alex was looking straight into her eyes like he was trying to read them. He didn't tense when she had started to speak, he looked like he was expecting everything she had said.

"Before I hurried back in the building I told you I will explain everything. Now it Is later than I wanted to do it, but I guess it's time. I am alive because the other X-men got me out of the ruins in time. I couldn't talk to you or reach you, because after the building exploded I was left in a coma for two years," Alex explained , clearly with a calm, regretful tone.

His voice was raspier than Lorna remembered it.

The words echoed in Lorna's ears and went down her spine like a shiver. How could she believe that Alex will just ditch her without a reason, "I am so sorry" She said covering her mouth with her hand.

"Don't be, you didn't do it," Alex said giving her a small smile, "The recovery took a long time too and I also thought it was too late."

"Too late for what!?" Lorna snapped. She would have killed to hear that Alex was alive and well, even after two years. How could it have been late?

"Too late to try and reach you again. I thought that after so much time, you had come in terms with my "death" and moved on.. I couldn't just come back and destroy everything," Alex looked away just for a second, but Lorna could see the pain in there, but anger still clogged her mind.

"IT WAS ALREADY DESTROYED! EVEN AFTER TWO YEARS YOU STILL HAD A CHANCE TO FIX IT AND YOU DIDN'T!" She shouted again and something dark passed through Alex's face.

"AND WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF I CAME BACK LORNA! I COULD HAVE DIED AGAIN AFTER A MONTH, OR A WEEK! I DIDN'T WANT TO CAUSE YOU THAT PAIN AGAIN AND AGAIN," Alex snapped for the first time since the beginning of the conversation.

Lorna sighed and ran a hand trought her hair. "I...I am sorry for snapping. I can't blame you for being in a coma. It just hurts to know that you had a chance to tell me that you were okay. I just missed you a lot."

"I missed you too. Sorry for the pain I caused you," Alex said rubbing his back, "You have every right to be angry at me."

"I don't want to be angry with you anymore," She said softly

Lorna looked at his face examining it. "The burn... Is it from then?" She asked touching it with the tip of her fingers. When did she got so close to him? Lorna was so wrapped up in the conversation that she didn't realise she took a step closer and then another one. Subconsciously Lorna wanted to be close.

Alex could feel Lorna's gentle fingers on his face. She was so close now, he could feel her warm breath on his face. Alex put his hand over hers, leaning against her palm. He remembered when Hank had told him that they couldn't do anything to heal his face, that the scars will stay there forever.

"Yes," He answered, hating how uncertain he sounded. "Han..the doctor said that due to my mutation he couldn't perform plastic surgery," Alex wasn't sure why he was saying that, it wasn't necessary, but he had always told Lorna everything sooner or later. It was just something about her that made you want to share.

Then Lorna just hugged him. It was surprising at first, but he hugged her back, "I am so glad you are back," She said and Alex could feel a warm feeling inside him.

"Me too," He said genuinely.

A minute of silence passed before Lorna pulled back from the hug.

"Since when are you with the X-men?" She asked and Alex knew she would want to hear the whole story. He had told her a little bit of what had happened after they were separated when they met again, but never everything.

"I had told you how angry I was at my adopted family, when they took me. You know the stuff I had done to make them regret adopting me. I also had an adopted sister named Hayley. At first... I hated her, because she reminded me of Scott so much. In time she started to grow on me for the same reason and I felt responsible for her. Hayley seemed to like me and look up to me for dome reason. Even after my foster parents were sick of me and my attitude, they kept me, because Hayley wanted to. One day the guy, who had killed my foster family's son, Todd, came back to finish the job. He kidnapped me and Hayley and threatened to kill us. He went after Hayley and I felt so angry, that I was going to lose another person I cared about again. Another sibling that I was responsible for. That little girl felt like my second chance after I had failed Scott. I killed him...I couldn't even stop the light from burning him alive," He could see Lorna's eyes widened slightly, but he needed to finish. She deserved to know.

"They arrested me and tried me as an adult for murder. My foster parents disowned me for obvious reasons. I confessed of killing the guy. I requested to be put in solitary and they were happy to obligate. One day some CIA agents came, said that they could help me, that I would be with people like me and my record would be wiped clean. It was an offer I couldn't say no to. They were putting together a mutant team called Division X that later turned into the X-men. That's how it happened," Alex finished, taking a breath.

He didn't want to look at Lorna, to see the disappointment in her eyes.

"That man... it was an accident," She said with an assuring voice, "He attacked you first. It was self-defense.

"I came in terms with what I did, Lorna, " Alex said looking back up at her, "I just didn't know how you will react.

"That guy attacked you and your sister. It was self-defense and he was asking for it," Lorna said and the tone in her voice caught Alex off guard. It was venomous and hateful. Lorna had always been a girl with an attitude, she wasn't taking shit from anyone, but Alex had never seen her speak the way she spoke now with such hate. For a moment he didn't know how to reply, but she was so close that he just hugged her again.

"God, I missed you," Alex said and Lorna hugged him back

"I missed you too," She replied the hate gone from her voice. It was better that way. They parted and Lorna but her lip.

"I have to tell you something," She said with uncertainty.

"Which is?" Alex pushed on.

"I am pregnant," She announced and Alex thought he had heard wrong. She couldn't be saying that could she?

"You are... pregnant?" He asked and Lorna nodded surely, waiting for his reaction.

He had lost her. Alex ordered himself to get a grip. No, he hadn't. He had just lost his chance to be with her, a chance to be more to her. Lorna was still his best friend though or at least he felt that way. Of course she had a boyfriend or a husband, she was incredible and he was the one that left, even if it was against his will. Alex felt one more peace from the rest of his heart crush. For a long time he had wanted to be the person next to Lorna, to raise their children together, be happy, but after all of the shit that had happened Alex couldn't ask for that. He would be happy for her of course he will. She was his closest person now after all and hehad owned her a lot more that he could repay.

"Congratulations Lorna," He smiled genuinely, swallowed the jealousy he felt for her partner. Alex knew it wasn't right to feel that way, but he couldn't help it. Lorna smiled back at him.

"Thanks," Her face lightened, but in her eyes Alex could read that she understood what he felt underneath the smile. She always did.

"You deserve to be happy," Alex said smiling, "And you can name the kid Alexander or if it's a girl Alexandra" He said laughing and Lorna laughed too, the sweet sound filling Alex's ears. God he had missed that laugh.

"I already have a name in mind if it's a girl thought," Lorna said and looked at her hands.

"Aurora," She whispered remembering how hers and Marcos's powers combined created the most beautiful thing on Earth.

"It's a beautiful name," Alex said, "And It starts with "A". That's a win win," Here they were discussing the name of Lorna's baby. A kid that was someone else's. In the following two years after the X-men disbanded and Alex had spent with Lorna, he had thought a lot about the next step in their relationship. He hadn't want to rush anything though and maybe it had been better that way, taking into account that hat he died shortly after that decision.

"As you said it, yeah. It sounds perfect now, but if it is a boy I would need other options," She said smilling

"Pfff that's simple... Auror," Alex suggested and Lorna bursted into laugher

"You are such a dork," She said jokingly pushing him back.

"Usually people prefer the term asshole or dick to describe me, but I will take dork too, if you insist," Alex smirked at her and Lorna rolled her eyes.

"For a moment I thought that you have changed too much. It is nice to know that there is something from your past self in you. He looked more alive, you know?"

"Trust me, I would kill millions of times to get him back, even for a day," Alex sighed running a hand through his hair, "I liked him better too"

Before Lorna could say anything else someone bursted trought the door. The words 'Have you heard of knocking' were at the tip of his tongue, but Alex stopped himself before they could get out and win an annoyed look from Lorna.

John looked like he was in a hurry, his eyes on Lorna, anxiously standing at the door. Obviously whatever it happened was important.

"Lorna, we have a problem. We need you."


	7. Chapter 7

Lorna followed Johnny downstairs with Alex behind her. She already had an idea what was happening, but couldn't be sure yet. It felt like trouble though. The Underground was short of fighters. That is why Lorna was training most of the kids, but they were not enough in case of an attack and not that well trained. She doubted that it is was an attack. Johnny looked in hurry, but wasn't as urgent as she imagined he would be if someone dared to begin an assult against the Underground.

When they stepped on the first floor Lorna could hear Shatter in the distance.

"We've got incoming!" He said "Marcos, Marcos, they are coming. They got past the defenses."

"Who did?" Marcos said

One the first floor all the members were looking at the stairs as three identical pairs of heels could be heard clicking on the floor in the distance. The triplets reached the spot where the stairscase began and stopped, looking at the mutants with identical smirks on their faces.

A moment of silence passed until someone spoke. Lorna could feel the tension in the air. She peaked at Alex, who looked confused, but ready to fight.

"What are they doing here?" Cailtlin asked with more surprise than hostility in her voice.

"What the hell do you want?" Marcos asked at his turn.

"Calm down-" Phoebe said

"There's no need to get excited-" Sophie said

"We are just here to talk" Esme finished

The three of them looked so calm together.

Lorna remembered Esme's eagerness to help save her family from Trask. Her act of a scared girl. It was all gone now. It's place taken by her real face: a manipulative telepath. Now they were three of them, far stronger together.

"Talk about what?" Johnny asked

"We need your help" The sisters said, the smirks on their faces unchanged.

Another tensed moment passed and the triples walked down the stairs and stopped on the platform, where the staircase devided in two.

"We will get right to the point" One of the triples said

"We are here about the Hounding program" They said at the same time.

Lorna had appeared to be right. They were back, because of the program.

"It is still going on."

"It is looking to expand, in fact" One of the triples added.

"We want your help to stop it"

"What?! You came in here and lied to us." Marcos said with a bitter voice "What, now you want our help?"

He sounded angry, probably because Esme tazed him, when they went to rescue the Strucker kids.

"You used us, so you could slauther those agents at the lab" Johnny said

"We did what we had to do" Esme argued

She went down the last couple of steps.

"I saved your children. Did I mislead you, yes, so you would do what had to be done. And as for your plan, to ask Sentinel Services to give up nicely. That would have ended with as many corpses, but they would have yours." She said

Lorna narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Esme managed to slaughter so many agents without blinking. The three sisters were, probably, more powerful together. Sentinel Services can't stop them now. The question is why the Frosts needed their help, if they had that much power. Maybe the needed numbers.

"Why do you need us?" Lorna asked

"Yeah, I saw you three controlling people's minds. You can handle this on your own." Clarice agreed.

"They know what we look like-"

"so we can't take on Sentinel Services by ourselfs-"

"but we have to act now."

The triples took turns to finish the sentence.

Lorna had a hard time telling them apart, but she was sure that Esme was the one in the middle.

"Make no mistake, the humans will come for us all" She said

"We have information about Campbell's plans, recourses to share."

"Meanwhile you have-"

"muscle."

Caitlin looked around.

"Hang on. Are we seriously considering this. " The woman looked genuinely surprised and shaken.

"No, no we are not, we are not going to listen to this anymore" Marcos said irritated.

That seemed very unreasonable from him. They needed allies. The Frosts had recourses, which the Underground lacked. They also had a common enemy in Campbell's face, making a possible betrayal from the Frosts unlikely. They also knew what needed to be done to survive. For Lorna survival was the top priority. Marcos on the other hand cared more about moral. She loved, how he had faith in people, but also knew that this faith blinded him and made them more vulnerable.

"Enough! We are not debating this, not here, not now. We heard what you had to say. Now you need to leave." Johnny calmed the situation.

"Think it over-"

"don't take too long-"

"we will be back. "

The Frosts turned on their heels and left the headquarters the same way they entered.

For a moment everything was silent. The other members started to slowly leave the room and return to their normal activities.

Lorna turned to Alex, who looked thoughtful.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked him.

"Nothing, they just looked awfully familiar" Alex said, tightening his lips in thought.

"Do you know them?" Lorna asked surprised.

"I don't think I do, but... they just... give me a familiar vibe" Alex said, like he couldn't find the words to describe it.

"Come on, Sage said that she will look into them soon" Lorna said "In the meantime you haven't met the others"

"Yeah, I guess I was distracted by your presence." Alex said rubbing his back. "Let's go"

* * *

Lorna led Alex to one of the side room of the building. It was smaller than the others and he supposed that here the leaders were discussing their decisions. It looked suitable for such actions.

When they entered they were three people there already. Alex recognized Marcos and Johnny, but not the woman with the purple hair.

"Okay Alex, you already met Marcos and this is... " Lorna began, but Alex cut her in mid-sentence.

"Johnny Proudstar" He smiled

"Who you obviously, already know" Lorna frowned. "Was it necessary for you to interrupt me or you are just being your usual annoying self?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"I will bet on the second option" Johnny said with a grin of his own. "It's good to see you again" He said and the two men exchanged a hug.

"Good to see you too" Alex smiled and turned to Clarice.

"Alex Summers" He introduced himself, lifting his hand for a shake.

"Clarice Fong" The woman replied and shook his hand.

Her lips were tighten and her eyes slightly narrowed. Alex could say she wasn't very trusting. After all of his years as an X-man, reading people's body language wasn't hard.

"Guys, I found the information about the sister's that you needed" Sage peeped in the room.

"Lets see what we are dealing with" Johnny said and everyone followed him outside.

Alex wasn't sure if he had to go with them, but his own curiosity urged him to do so. The blond hair, blue eyes, the girls's smirks and calmness were all too familiar. Clarice mentioned that they could control minds. It only made Alex's suspicion deeper.

All them gathered around Sage's computers

" Esme, Sophie and Phoebe" Sage said as pictured of three girl appeared on the computer screen

"Spunky" Clarice commented

"Do they have a last name?" Johnny asked

"Frost, but they use new aliases every week. When Sophie and Phoebe were arrested they gave their last name as Cuckoo. Probably, just to piss of the cops." Sage explained.

It was like someone had punched the air out of him. A memory of a tall telepathic woman with blond hair and blue eyes filled his mind. Emma Frost. Once part of the Hellfire club, then the first incarnation of the Brotherhood and the X-men's main telepath after the presumed death of Jean.

Alex stepped back from the surprise. Were these girls Emma's dauthers? They were too young to be her sisters. The resemblance was too uncanny for them to be her cousins either.

Who was the father though? Since Emma had left the Brotherhood and joined the X-men, she had been involved with only one man. Alex's mind went to Scott and he felt a lump in his stomach. That was impossible. Scott was too young to have children, who were that grown up. Emma herself wasn't that old, but the story there was confusing as hell.

After Emma was believed to had been killed by Trask along with Sean, the Professor had found both of them in one of Stryker's facilities on Three Mile Island in an attempt to find Scott, who had been kidnapped as well. He had taken them both in the mansion and Emma explained that she had managed to switch her body with a girl that had already been dead. They looked alike and Emma had settled in a younger body than her previous one.

Maybe she had children with another man, before the body swap. That was a possibility too.

Alex didn't know if she was still alive. After the X-men had disbanded everyone had gone into a different direction. He couldn't keep in touch with any of them. It was safer that way.

"Are you okay?" Lorna put a hand on his shoulder. "You look stunned"

"I am fine" Alex said, giving her a smile.

He looked around and saw that Johnny wasn't there anymore.

"Where is John?" He asked

"We went to set the matter right with two arguing mutants. You really are distracted" Lorna said folding her arms over her chest.

"What else did you find about the triples? " He asked ignoring Lorna's words.

"There is a rumor that they are part of some terrorist group called "The Hellfire Club". Sage said

"That is literally impossible" Alex said "The Hellfire club was destroyed by the X-men. "

"It is a rumor, maybe there are recreating it" Sage said.

"You sound like you know the Frosts" Clarice said

"Not these three, but I believe I knew a relative of theirs." Alex explained "If they are anything like the woman I knew, they will not go empty handed."

"Then we will have to be careful. These girls are bad news." Marcos said

"Is this all Sage?" Lorna asked ignoring Marcos's comment.

"Yes" The black-haired woman said

"Then we have other jobs to attend to. This can wait" Lorna said and headed out of the room.

"She is irritated" Alex noted looking over at Marcos.

"I believe we all are" He said slowly walking away. "I will go and find her"

"Good luck" Alex said and looked around.

The Headquarters were an abandoned bank and the building had it's priorities, considering the size and the vault, that could be used to stock the food and other equipment. Johnny and Lorna had equipped the old for living and it didn't look bad at all.

Alex decided to examine it. It was always good to know your surroundings. God knew what could happen in the near future.

His thoughts swirled to the three identical sisters. Were they aware of who their mother was? There was one more important question, that was eating him up from the inside. Was Emma helping with the recreation of the Hellfire Club? Scott's death hadn't effected only him. When the rest of the team was gathered for the last time with the Professor, Emma had looked distant like never before.

Maybe Scott's death was like a trigger to her to go back to her old approach of things. That was a possibility. She could have also went down her own path or even leading another cell of the Mutant Underground

Alex saw Lorna going out of her room, looking annoyed. Obviously, whatever Marcos had been talking about with her wasn't pleasing.

He cut of her way and she looked up at him with the "I don't want to deal with you now" look.

"You really look pissed" Alex noted and put up a smile. "You okay?"

"Look, I really don't want to talk right now." She said crossing her arms over her chest.

"I see, but I want you to know that I am here, if you ever need to talk. I have a lot to make up to you." Alex said, his smile moved aside by seriousness.

"I know" Lorna said. " I just... believe that we need the Frosts as our allies. They are effective as bad as it sounds."

"And the others don't want that" Alex asked

"At least Marcos doesn't. Johnny thinks that an alliance with them will tear this place apart and Clarice says that she doesn't want to run and hide anymore. On top of that the Struckers are leaving" She sighed and ran a hand thought her short green hair.

"The Struckers?" Alex asked not sure, if he met them here.

"Yeah, Caitlin, Reed, Lauren and Andy. Marcos and the others helped them when Andy manifested rather violently. The parents are humans, but are trustworthy allies and have been helping a lot." Lorna explained.

"Got it" Alex smiled slightly. "If you believe that the Frosts can help, then you have to convince the others. You are four people. You need to talk to Clarice and John. If they agree Marcos loses the vote" He suggested.

"That sounded very democratic and kind of manipulative" Lorna said sounding surprised.

"You sound like you can't believe I have said that" Alex said rising a brow.

"No just... you have changed a lot" Lorna said bitting her lip. "For better or worse"

"What was that supposed to mean?" Alex asked hating the defensive tone he used.

"I remember how careless you were before. It is amazing how the world we live in changes us, isn't it? I see pain in your eyes Summers. You probably won't tell me what is it, but I just want you to know that I am here for you as you are for me"

"You changed the subject from you to me very drastically." Alex pointed out. "I know, you are here, but what happend to me doesn't matter. You can't change the past Lorna. You have your own problems as I can clearly see. You don't need my stories burdening you any further.

"That is your problem" Lorna said pointing him with her finger. "You think that you can keep everything to yourself. You have always been like that, but sometimes sharing with the people close to you can help you feel better, leave some of that burden behind you" She said.

Her green eyes shining from the emotion she was talking with. It made Alex's heart skip a beat. No. He shouldn't be thinking about how much he wanted to kiss her, to hold her. It was wrong, but how could he stop his own feelings.

 _"The heart wants, what it wants Alex. You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt."_

Hank's words echoed deep in his mind and he felt the familiar pain, that he experienced every time he had remembered one of his fallen friends.

Alex didn't know if Sean and Emma were still alive, but Hank was gone. He had been there when the life left him, leaving an empty shell to bury.

He brushed off the thoughts away and forced another small smile.

"When I need to talk, you will be the first one to tell." Alex said "And about the Frosts. They can be good allies, but watch you back with them. These girls will do everything to get what they want."

"We will be careful" Lorna said, nodding slithly.

"That's all I am asking" Alex said and headed to his room.

* * *

He couldn't sleep that night. Well, Alex had trouble sleeping every night and this one wasn't any different.

After tossing in the bed for what felt to be eternity, Alex decided to take a walk outside, to have some fresh air.

He put on his coat and headed to the door.

The air was chilly, but it wasn't cold. The sky was clear with a few stars shining up there along with the full moon.

Alex looked up and closed his eyes, feeling the breeze lashing against his face. It felt good, relaxing.

 _"What are you doing here?" Alex asked reaching his brother._

 _"I needed some fresh air" Scott shrugged and sat on the grass outside of the Institute. "And you?"_

 _"Couldn't sleep" Alex said sitting next to him. "Did you had another nightmare? He asked_

 _"Yes" Scott said, his eyes glued to the clear blue sky_

 _"What about?"_

 _"The crash. It keeps repeating itself in my head for the past couple of days" Scott said looking at Alex._

 _"You miss them, that is all. It's normal" Alex said giving his brother a reassuring smile, a smile that didn't reach his eyes._

 _"I know. It doesn't make it hurt less thought" Scott said_

 _"But they are right here" Alex said putting a hand on his shoulder._

 _"In my heart? Is that what you were going to say. You can't get more cliché, can you?" Scott said with a small smile on his face._

 _"I wasn't going to say that" Alex said smiling as well. "I meant that they are up there" He said pointing to the stars in the sky._

 _"How?" Scott asked looking up as well._

 _"Mom told me once, that when people die, they turn in a star and keep watching over the people they love from the sky." Alex explained_

 _"So they are stars now?" Scott asked_

 _Alex smiled sadly at his little brother._

 _"At first, it seemed ridiculous to me too, but with the years... I feel better when I look up."_

 _"It isn't ridiculous." Scott said "I can even recognize them"_

 _"How" Alex asked confused_

"T _his is mom and this is dad. Isn't it obvious Alex?" Scott asked_

 _A minute of silence passed between the two brothers until Scott spoke again._

 _These two are the brightest. Scott said "This one is mom, because she is smaller that the star next to her, but seems to shine brighter. This one is dad, because it is bigger and still shines brightly." The little boy explained, passion driving his voice._

 _Alex fixed his gaze on the stars with a raised brow._

 _"Yeah, it is obvious" His features softened, while he listened and turned to his brother. "Scott, you are the most thoughtful 11 years old, you know?"_

 _"Is that a bad thing? Scott asked hesitantly_

 _"Of course not" Alex said and ruffled Scott's hair_

 _Scott chucked "You have to stop doing that"_

 _"Unfortunately for you, I don't want to" Alex said laughing_

 _He got up and offered Scott his hand._

 _"Let's go. We could both use some sleep." Alex said_

 _The boy took his hand and got up from the grass as well. "Goodnight mom, goodnight dad" He said_

 _Alex's heart melted by his little brother's innocence_

 _Both brothers headed towards the mansion in the dark._

 _Alex looked up one more time, spotting the two stars, which Scott appointed to be their parents. "Goodnight" He said soundlessly._

He opened his eyes meeting the dark blue sky. Tracing with the path with his finger, Alex reached two stars next to each other. The first one was smaller, but looked brighter and the second one was a little bigger.

Another star, close to the other two, caught Alex's eye. It was bigger than the first one and a bit smaller than the second one. Alex smilled.

"It is obvious" He murmured, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

Alex watched the three stars a few more minutes and continued to walk around the building. He turned around the corner and saw a figure dressed in black coat standing there, watching him. The figure took a few steps towards him.

"It is a beautiful night, isn't it?" On of the sisters asked, the usual calm smirk on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Alex said narrowing his eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you" She said, titling her head to one side.

"How did you know I was going to be outside? " He asked.

Before the triple could answer, the pieces came together.

"I thought the damn defenses were stronger" Alex muttered

"They are failing after all those years, I managed to discomfort your sleep and pick up a few stuff" The girl said

Alex wasn't comfortable with the way she said it and sure as hell he wasn't okay with a telepath poking around his head.

"First of all, stay the hell out of my mind. Second of all, why do you want to talk to me, you don't even know me... Esme, Sophie... Phoebe" Alex said trying to guess.

"Sophie" The blond girl said " But you know us, don't you. I saw how you were looking at us."

"So you came to ask me how? Is that it" Alex asked

"Not exactly. I found out who you are Alexander and we know who we resemble." Sophie said "You were an X-man once. That gives you some advantages in the Underground-"

"And you want me to use that advantage to convince the Underground to work with you" Alex said, putting emphasis on advantage.

Sophie was a typical Frost, using her words and brains to get things the way she wanted them to be. It was admirable, how resourceful the girls are.

"You are a smart man, aren't you?" Sophie asked rhetorical "You are aware, that the hounding program should be closed right. I mean your niece-"

Boiling anger clouded Alex's eyes. He felt his powers underneath his skin, burning him from the inside, demanding to be realized and destroy everything around him.

"If you don't stop talking right now, I will melt your face off. Got it?" He said thought gritted teeth.

"Smart and hot-headed. Bad combination if you ask me" Sophie said and took another step towards him. "As I said you know what needs to be done. In desperate times, you need allies especially as resourceful as us"

Alex brought himself to take a feel deep breaths and calm down. Sophie was right on all accounts.

"You are losing your time with me. I don't have any influence in the Underground. If they decide against this alliance there is nothing I could do." Alex said

"Believe me, they will trust your opinion as well." Sophie smirked. "After all, they are following the X-men's legacy."

"You mentioned my niece. What do you know about her?" He asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I am afraid, my resources are shared only with allies" Sophie said putting a head on her hip. "Think of this as a little deal. You help me and I help you."

Alex shook his head in frustration.

"How do I know that you have these recourse that you are talking about?"

"I guess you have to trust me" Sophie said. "It isn't like you haven't trusted a Frost before"

"Yes I have, but I have problem with trusting someone from the Hellfire club, if you get where I am coming from" Alex clenched his jaw.

"Interesting observation" Sophie noted "Another thing I know for sure, is that in the past the X-men have allied themselves with the Brotherhood. You have trusted them, even for a short period of time.I know that you want this as well. You know it is the right thing."

"I haven't been here for your last involvement with the Underground, so I don't know if this is the right thing." He said

"Maybe you should ask. I am sure that Marcos will explain very detailed." Sophie said and smirked again. "Basically we saved everyone. The Underground are sore, because it cost some Sentinel Service agents their lives."

"Aha" Alex nodded. "I will see what I can do" He said turning away.

"Sometimes, you have to make your enemies go away for good. Otherwise they will be coming back." Sophie's voice rang behind him.

"I know" Alex said and continued to walk away, the darkness enveloping him.

Alex went back to his room as quietly as he could and threw the coat on the chair next to the door. He sat on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Sophie was right. From what he saw from the Underground they lacked recourses. The Hellfire club was wealthy and powerful. Lorna was right, the triples would make good allies.

One thing was his top priority now. Rachel. She was out there somewhere, in some facility where they were torturing her, forced her to be something she wasn't. Rachel had already espaced a future, where she was a hound and now it was all repeating. Alex had to help her. She was family after all.

This days's actions and emotions took theirs and soon Alex fell into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

The Frosts's steps echoed into the narrow hallway, their heels clicking on the marble floor. They reached the big, write door and opened it.

The woman in front of them was standing on the balcony looking at the other building in the front, her hands clasped behind her back.

"I told you, not to come, if it isn't exceptionally important" She said

"Well, it is important" The triples said in unison.

The woman kept standing still for another second and then entered the room, closing the balcony door behind her.

"Sit" She ordered her calm voice filling the room.

The three sisters sat on the three armchairs, positioned in front of the desk.

The room was spacious and without much furniture, which contributed to the size of the place. There was a desk made of white wood in the upper right side and a bookcase on the left one. A diamond chandelier was hanging from the ceiling a few white veils hanged on it. Behind the sisters was situated a big coach with a white wooden table placed in the front.

Emma Frost, the former white queen and now the newest Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club, sat on her own a chair and faced the triples.

"Go ahead" She said, pouring herself a glass of champagne.

"The Underground have a new member. He had some pretty strong physic defenses, but Esme and I managed to break them enough to gather a little information." Sophie explained. "When we went to seek their help, he recognized us."

"Did you pick a name?" Emma asked taking a sip from her glass.

"Alexander Summers, used to be an X-man" Sophie said

Emma put the glass down and stood up. She took a few steps around the room and turned towards the window.

"So, Alexander isn't dead" Emma said more to herself than to the triples. "Of course he isn't"

The former white queen turned to her daughters once more with a smirk.

"Then we have an advantage." She said

"He has influence in the Underground, because of his prior status as an X-man." The triples said with identical smiled of dominance.

"That means, he has the advantage my dears" Emma said, returning to her chair and taking the glass again. "Our advantage is that we know how to manipulate him, therefore we have his advantages." She explained calmly

"We understand" The triples said in unison.

"Now leave. I need time to think." Emma waved her hand.

The triples stood up and walked out of the room their steps in perfect unison.

Emma smiled at them with a sense of pride. Her girls were everything she wanted them to be. She finished her drink in one sup.

"A new era for mutants is beginning and it tastes good"


	8. Chapter 8

The early hours of the next morning passed like a blur. Alex was way too occupied with his own thoughts to see what was happening around him. He had asked Johnny for work earlier, so he could contribute with something.

It was easy and Alex was doing it almost mechanical and without effort, leaving his mind to drown in itself.

The last night's meeting with Sophie was weird and felt like a strange dream. The Frost sister knew a lot. A lot more than he was comfortable with.

Alex believed that the physic defences installed by Professor Xavier would hold through the years, but obviously, he was wrong.

The mention of his niece last night had taken a pivotal place in his priorities.

Help mutants, continue Charles's legacy. Until now his plan was working, but now a new unknown quantity was added to the equation, making the delicate situation a little harder.

Sophie wanted him to convince the Underground that they needed them, which they did in his opinion.

Alex knew that Lorna wanted the same and Clarice was inclined for an alliance. John and Marcos were the complications.

Being cunning and manipulative wasn't him, but the thought of Rachel tortured in some lab, his last living relative, was more than unpleasant. It wasn't like convincing was manipulation. He was just trying to point them in the right direction.

From his time with the X-men, Alex had learned that sometimes you have to work with your enemies for the greater good. Working with the Brotherhood was never something he had liked, but it was necessary for a couple of missions. It definitely was hard to swallow all the piled up anger and hate.

He just had to tell them all of that. They will have a better winning chance with the Frosts by their side. Alex put the last box in the safe, which they used as larder.

"Good job" Clarice entered and looked at the ordered boxes.

"Thanks" Alex said "Anything else I can do?" He asked

"I don't believe there is anything" Clarice said "Anyways, thanks for the help"

She turned to leave, but Alex's voice stopped her in midstep.

"You don't trust me, do you?" He asked

Clarice turned around and narrowed her eyes.

"No, I don't" She said with a calm voice.

"Can I ask why? " He said

"You just come here claiming to be an X-man, which you think will make everyone undoubtedly trust you. You had immediately recognized Lorna, one of the leaders, which gives the others more reasons to believe you. I find it shady, that you come around the time of the Frosts crisis."

"I assure you, I don't have any background intentions Clarice." Alex answered with the same calm tone. "It is understandable that you are suspicious to people after all you have been through"

"How do you know what we have been through?" Clarice asked a little hostility in her voice.

"The X-men went through the same shit trying to make peacefull coexistence possible. In time you became more careful with people. If I were you I would be suspicious too."

"Right" Clarice nodded still looking unconvinced.

"I am not telling you to trust me, I am telling you that you can" Alex said with a small smile.

"Lorna and Johnny think highly of you. Maybe you are worth trusting, but I will have to see for myself." She said with a little hesitation.

"Yes, you should." He agreed.

"You sound like you are telling me to be careful with you" She noted crosing her arms over her chest.

"Nope, but you can't trust someone over the words of other people. Not truly. You have to see for yourself." He said maintaining eye contact.

"Okay then" Clarice said "We will see"

She turned on her heel and left the room without looking back. Alex followed Clarice with his gaze, until he lost her.

He could tell that she was passionate about the Mutant Underground's cause and cared about her friends. Maybe after the Frosts betrayal, she had started to be more cautious, or maybe she had been like this from before. Alex didn't know and finding something as simple as that out wasn't a priority even if he was curious.

He had eventually came up with a simple plan of how to proceed with the Rachel situation.

Convincing the Mutant Underground wasn't expected to be a hard part as Lorna approved, Clarice seemed on the edge and Johnny would listen to reason.

Marcos was the wild card. He didn't approved of the Frosts tactics and wouldn't trust them. Probably Lorna could have a shot in convincing him to at least think about it.

Sophie said that resources were for allies. Once the alliance was complete, he could ask what they knew about Rachel and track her down. He would need to explain to Lorna though. It was possible that he would have to go away for some time to find search.

Alex didn't think that he would have a huge problem with that.

Suddenly he felt a little tickle in the back of his head. The familiar tickle of a telepath trying to sneak into his mind. As much as he was aware they weren't any telepaths in the Underground. That left only one option and it wasn't pleasing.

The tickle was becoming more insistent and Alex began to struggle with pushing it away. The determination, with which it was trying to get into his mind was admirable, but it also had something familiar about it.

"Oh Emma" Alex sighed sadly, as he connected the pieces.

He lowered his defenses letting the sidekick in. There was no point in keeping them up. She was going to get in eventually. Emma was an Omega level telepath after all. Alex also wanted to know what she wanted. It was a long time ago since he had last seen her.

"Emma" He thought.

"Hello to you too" Emma though back.

Alex could feel her smile, whenever she was. A cold shiver crawled up his spine.

"What do you want?" He said cutting straight.

He didn't have time for her stupid games.

"You have always preferred the direct approach." Emma's thought echoed in his mind.

"Not everything changes" He thought back

"If you were only right"

"Should I be worried about the sound of that?" He thought

"Maybe, maybe not"

"Emma, I don't feel like playing your games right now." Alex thought making sure it sounded angry.

"I understand, but I have something for you. Something concerning our dear little Rachel.

The thought felt numb in his mind, but clear as the sky. It left him stunned, but he quickly got hold of himself.

"Which is?" The though was impatient, desperate.

Alex hated how weak it sounded, but he couldn't help feeling that way.

"I know where she is... what she is"

Emma's thought arrives with an unfamiliar feeling of sympathy.

"Just spill it" Alex snapped.

"They had turned her into a hound Alexander."

For a second time, Alex felt completely frozen in his place. His mind went into the darkest places, with hundred scenarios, how this could end. None of them were good.

"Alexander, calm your mind."

He took a deep breath and then another. Alex needed to keep it together, but he couldn't lose Rachel so soon after he found out she was okay. There was still hope, for her rescuing. She could still be saved, but only if he kept himself together long enough to be able to help her.

"I don't get it." He thought.

"What?"

"Your daughters, The resemblance is uncanny by the way. Sophie told me that she knows of Rachel, but refused to share information, because their resources are only for allies. Why are you telling me this now. The Underground are not allies to the Hellfire club yet." He thought

"Why do you think I am working with the girls? They can do whatever they want without me." Emma thought, but Alex already knew the answer.

She was probably asking just out of sheer curiosity.

"You were in the Hellfire club before. It seemed logical for you to start reforming it again after everything that had happened with the X-men. Also, I am sure that where your daughters are, you are there as well. "

"If by 'everything that had happened', you mean Charles's plans for peaceful coexistence collapsing over all is us, then yes"

"Let's get back to the point. Why now?"

"I believe we will have to talk throught this face to face." Emma's reply came almost immediately.

"I don't believe you tell me how to find you, probably next time I won't be coming as a guest."

"It is early for threats Alexander."

"It is never early to make sure someone wouldn't screw with you. "

"Of course. There is a big building near to the underground base. Glass windows, white panels, hard to miss. Go inside to the elevator and press the button for the 12th floor. "

"And where is that building exactly? "

"Go to the main road and left, continue straight ahead and you will see it"

"You became tired of the telepathic communication?" Alex though with a small smile.

"Well, business is better discussed face to face"

"Fair enough. I will be there soon. "

The telepathic link was cut and Alex walked out of the room. He had to sneak away somehow, before the meeting about the Frosts situation.

The sky was dark as clouds hid the sun from view. The atmosphere just felt dead and unwelcoming.

Alex walked on the road, as Emma instructed him and soon found himself in front of the tall white building.

Sneaking out wasn't practically hard. He had avoided Lorna and the other leaders, especially Clarice as much as he could for the rest of the day. If they haven't seen him for a long time, they won't notice if he was gone. It looked as simple as that, even if it wasn't.

He entered the lobby, walking straight to the elevator, ignoring the receptionist starring at him.

His scars had attracted some attention before, but it had been nothing he couldn't explain or handle. Yeah, people's occasional glances were annoying him to a new level, but there was nothing he could do to stop them.

Alex went in the elevator and pushed and pushed the button for the 12the floor as instructed.

This whole situation with Emma seemed shady. She had openly admitted to have involvement in the Hellfire Club. Emma was a manipulative and resourceful woman. What she was planning couldn't be good.

Alex stepped in as the elevator opened directly into the living room. Emma was standing in front of him, just a few metres away.

She gave him a small smile.

"You may not believe me Alexander, but it is good to see you" She said

"It is good to see a familiar face." Alex replied and took a few steps further. "Nice place you got here."

"It is one of the many facilities the Hellfire Club uses. Anyways, we are here for bussines, aren't we."

"I believe that means you will get right to the point." Alex said

"You asked why I am telling you this now, instead of waiting for the Mutant Underground to ally with my girls. Correct? "

"Correct" Alex nodded feeling his patience slipping away.

"I told you this from a good intention. To show you that I actually know what had happened to Rachel. "

"So, you told me to manipulate me even more into convincing the Underground?" Alex asked rising his eyebrow. "If that is the case, you are losing your time, I was going to do it anyway."

"This is what I called you about." Emma said, the smile disappearing from her face, moved out by a serious look. "I need you with me in the Hellfire Club."

"You know my answer." Alex said clenching his fists.

"I knew you will react like this" Emma sighed.

"React like this?! You expect me to ditch my adult life's work to play Brotherhood with you? Well you really overestimated yourself with your convincing abilities this time, Emma." Alex snapped

" I am just offering you a chance to do something helpful for mutants." Emma said

"So, Charles's dream wasn't helpful? " Alex asked sharp.

"It was a nice dream, but unfortunately a unsuccessful one. I tried to achieve it alongside you, but it failed time and time again. We need a new approach. "

"So killing people like Magneto did. It didn't turned out good for him either, did it?"

"Innocent people won't be hurt in our mission, just our enemies: Sentinel Services, The Purifiers and the other, unknown ones." Emma said, taking a seat on the coach.

"I am not going to kill people." Alex shook his head.

"You wanted to kill that Purifier, who shot Scott, didn't you? Of course, little miss goody-two-shoes, Jean Grey, stopped you from doing so."

"Don't you dare use Scott against me." His voice was a growl.

"Aren't you tired of using the same tactic and failing again and again, losing more every time. I am exhausted Alexander. Exhausted of playing good with people, who only wants to see us dead or locked up. You know I am right, deep down you want this, but Charles's old teachings are stopping you from acting on your instincts."

"I am tired Emma, I really am, but if I fail the X-men's dream, I am failing myself as well. Everything I believe in, will be ruined as soon as I kill someone in cold blood. Do you get that?"

Emma's words struck him in the chest. He felt like she had some right, but he couldn't fail the X-men. It should be unthinkable, but here he was thinking about it, considering it.

So many years ago, he had helped stopping Shaw and the Hellfire Club from starting World War III and now Emma was asking him to join the same organisation. Times really had changed a lot.

"I get it, but the X-men had failed Alexander, if you keep clinging to your old morals, to your old approaches, you will die. You either adapt like everyone else or die." Emma said her chin raised up.

"Are you using the old 'the survival of the fittest' philosophy now? I thought it died with Apocalypse so many years ago." Alex laughed, the sound coming out bitter.

"No, I am using the ends justify the means" Emma smiled "The peaceful times have ended Summers, Sentinel Services want war, they will get war."

"Emma, I am not joining you, I am not going to help you slaughter people" Alex said

"Suit yourself. You can go back to being useless in the Mutant Underground. "

"We are calling names now? "Alex asked crossing his hands over his chest.

"You are a trained fighter, a good leader and tactician with an extreme power level, being wasted with these people. They are just helping mutants find a place to stay, nothing long term, nothing to help stop the abuse and mistreatment of mutants. So yes, I am calling you useless." Emma said

"I want to know where is Rachel, Emma. This is what I care about right now." Alex replied changing the subject completely.

"Very well. Rachel is located somewhere in a facility in Virginia." Emma said getting up from the coach.

"And?" Alex urged her to continue

"You don't think I will tell you everything, do you? I am just showing you that I have the information you need. I will tell you the rest when the alliance is set. This was just to drive you on." She smirked and Alex clenched his fists.

"So that is it?" He asked irritated.

"No, I have a little deal for you. I will tell you where Rachel is and help you rescue her. In return, you will help me with the Hellfire Club, when the time comes. You know you can't save her alone."

"You really are a manipulating bitch Emma Frost" Alex said "I think I will do it without your help. The Mutant Underground will be enough."

"They are untrained and not that well organized to infiltrate that lab. You will need more experienced people." Emma noted and a smirk slid onto her face.

"I see you have someone in mind."

"Fortunately, for you, I kept some of my old contacts intact and tracked down some of the X-men, with who I have lost touch with. Being in the Hellfire club has it's perks as you know." Emma said

"So, you have contact with some of the remaining X-men?" Alex asked

"Exactly" Emma replied "I will gather a small team and rescue Rachel. I will arrange treatment for her, so we can try to change her back to normal, but you will have to join the Hellfire Club."

"Why do you want me there so badly?" Alex asked leaning against the wall.

"You need me as I need you" Emma said, the smile still playing on her lips.

"Deal?"

What should he do? Alex couldn't rescue Rachel on his own and Emma was right, the Underground weren't that well trained, except for John. Also there was no guarantee, that they would agree to help him with Rachel. If he refused, she could decline even telling him the location. Emma had all of the cards.

The White Queen had caught him crammed for room in the worst time possible. He was probably making a mistake, but he couldn't see any other way. There probably was one, but he couldn't find it now. There was no time to search for it. His niece was in danger and she could die any moment. His moral high ground didn't mean anything if he let his last living relative die in the hands of her tormentors. If he had let that happen, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. He made his choice.

A wave of determination and anger rushed at him and he let it in. The dark part, he was suppressing for so long came kicking in and he let it consume him. It was time to act.

"Deal" He shook Emma's stretched hand, all of his hesitation gone.

When Scott had still been a child, Alex had been sure that he would do anything to get back to him. He had swore he wouldn't let Scott lose another part of his family. Even if it turned him into a monster. Now, Rachel was the one that needed him and he knew, he would do everything to get to her, to help her.

"I knew I could count on you to make the right choice." Emma smirked and let go of his hand. "We are not that different, you and I. You may pretend, you are better than me, but at the end of the day we will both do what we have to, to get what we want."

"The difference is that you set the whole world on fire to do it. I know where to draw the line." Alex said thought gritted teeth.

"We will see." Emma said walking towards the elevator.

She pushed the only silver button on the panel and faced Alex again.

"You better go, don't let them get suspicious."

Alex turned to face the silver doors, which opened in front of him, and entered without looking back, leaving the smiling face of Emma Frost behind.

He felt like he was being torn apart. The Mutant Underground were continuing the X-men's cause and it was all he wanted, but leaving Rachel behind was unthinkable. Alex knew, he had made the right choice, but it was still eating him from inside. Would Charles approve of what he has done or he would shake his head in disappointment? Alex preferred to believe the latter.

On the other hand, Emma was right about certain stuff. The dream had failed again and again, every time leaving the corpses of his friends and family burning.

He returned to the headquarters shortly and it was like he hasn't left. Nobody had seemed to noticed his absence. Everyone was too occupied with their own tasks.

He spotted Lorna at the stairs and took a few steps forward.

"I am changing. Everything's changing. "

She couldn't say it any better.

All of his scattered thoughts, came together, united by this one sentence. Lorna was right. Everything was changing. He wasn't sure for better or worse.

"I know." Marcos said

A few silent seconds passed between them.

"Johnny needs to see us." He continued.

They both stood up and their gazes fell on Alex.

"You look zoned out" Lorna noted and Alex gave her a smile.

"I guess I was just distracted." He shrugged.

"Come, we will discuss the Frost situation." Lorna said motioning him to follow her.

She gave a quick look to Marcos, who nodded.

The three of them entered the small room, where John was already waiting. Lorna sat on the chair and Marcos stood near the desk. Alex leaned at the wall.

"The Frost sisters will be here soon" Johnny spoke. "We need to decide what to do. "

"As far as I concern, the sidekicks are not a starter." Marcos said

"Because their tactics make you uncomfortable." Lorna argued

"Uncomfortable? They murdered a dozen of people without even blinking. We don't know a first thing about them." Marcos argued back.

"We do know one thing about them. They saved our asses." Clarice said entering the room as well.

"They saved themselves and pulled us right in the front row in a war with Sentinel Services" Marcos said

"The Congress could declare Marshall Law." Johnny said

"So? They didn't need Marshall Law, when they killed the foster parents." Clarice said

"Exactly." Lorna stood up "Why should we fight with one hand tied behind our backs. We need all the allies we can get." She turned to Marcos and continued "Do you want to cling to your ideals or do you want to survive."

"We can't just throw away our principles, because it's convenient, no. The X-men choose us for a reason and it's not because we can kill. If we wanted to kill people we would have done it a dozen times already, but we didn't. We have to be better than need to take out the hounding program and we will, Lorna, but we have to do it our way."

He spoke passionately and for a moment Alex forgot what his role was, which side he was actually on.

"Why don't you ask him, why the X-men choose us?" Clarice asked nodding towards him.

Suddenly all eyes fell on Alex. It had felt like the old times, when he had been just about to brief the team on some new mission along with the Professor. He cleared his throat and canculayed his words.

"No, we didn't choose any of you because you can kill. We choose you, because we knew who you are capable of being. We believed that you can make the tough choices...even if it meant that you have to kill. Sometimes you can't escape it." He said, his tone even.

"What is your opinion on the matter?" Lorna asked meeting his eyes.

She was probably recalling their conversation from the previous day, when he had told her how to win this debate. In her eyes could be read only sheer determination.

"Against a common enemy, the better choice is to make allies. Even if they are your enemies by definition. The X-men have allied themselves with the Brotherhood a couple of times in need. I believe you should do the same." He said and looked at the faces of the people around him.

Lorna raised her chin up. He could tell she liked his answer. Johnny looked thoughtful, his brow furrowed and Marcos looked frustrated, but tried to hide it. It wasn't a very good try.

Alex looked up at Clarice. She looked pleased as Lorna was. Blink wanted this alliance to happen too. He remember their earlier interaction. He hoped Clarice didn't start believing him just yet. After all, he was about to stand on the opposite side.

Taking a breath, Alex had realized, that he would have to abandon Lorna as soon as he joins the Hellfire club. He knew he was forgetting something, but the image of his niece, being beaten and drugged had taken his mindscape at that time, leaving no room for anything else. Now, his mind was clean and he could think freely. How could he forget about Lorna? Alex felt like punching himself for it, but there was no point. He had already taken Emma's offer. Even with Lorna in the equation, he still had to help Rachel. Lorna would understand. She always does.

"Hey listen up. I just caught word of the police radio, something big is about to go down." Sage said peeping into the room.

"Where?" Johnny asked

Sage looked at Johnny "Fairburn station"

It took him a few second to connect the pieces. He turned to them.

"We have to go. The Struckers and everyone else are in danger" He said and everyone suddenly seemed on edge.

Lorna had told Alex that this Strucker family was leaving the previous day. It didn't took him long to realize it was the same family.

Things were about to get heated up.

 **A/N:**

 **Hello people from all around the world. I am back. Sorry it took me so long to post the new chapter, but in my defense, school has started. I will try to update every one or two weeks from now on, but that means that I will have to update "The Beginning of a Legacy" more rarely as people don't read it as much as this one.**

 **I have some other news to share. I am planning a new story. An X-men and Teen Wolf crossover, which will be called "The Mutant Pack". The first chapter is already started and I will probably post it in a week.**

 **I believe this is all for now. Don't hesitate to leave a review of my work and tell me what you think. See ya!**


	9. Chapter 9

Everyone was on the edge and the atmosphere in the car was tense. Lorna was racing through the streets with full speed, fully concentrated on the road in front of her.

John was sitting next to her, tapping with his foot on the ground, which showed how nervous he really was. Clarice was sitting at the back, pressing her lips together in one line. Marcos, who was sitting next to Blink, had a determined look in his eyes.

Alex was slightly confused of what was happening, but still managed to keep up. Currently, they were travelling to Fairburn station, apparently a facilitie with a connection to the Underground.

When Sage had told them the news, the others hadn't wasted any time with talking this trough. They had ran out of the headquarters on John's orders and had reached the nearest vehicle.

To him, it seemed unreasonable to just flee somewhere to rescue mutants without an actual plan. The situation had escalated too quickly for him to say anything though.

"Reed, we are on our way, less than five minutes out. What's going on?" John asked, holding a phone in his left hand, which was put on a speaker so everyone in the car can hear.

"We are hiding out in the south end of the building, but we can't get to an exit."

"How many people are with you?"

"Just us and Wes... ah most of the refugees have already surrendered.. uh Andy's hurt."

The part with the surrendering refugees made Alex's blood up. He didn't get, how they could just surrender without fighting these assholes. He would rather be dead than locked up forever.

"How bad?" John asked, quickly turning back to look at Clarice.

"He is unconscious and Kate is afraid to move him. Wes has put up a mirage to hide us. I don't think he can hold up forever."

"We are almost there just hold on. We will portal in and get you out of there." Thunderbird said and hung up the phone.

In less than five minutes, Alex could already see the building. Lorna went round and parked behind it. They all got out quickly. The tea moved a few meters away from the car and John concentrated.

"Sentinel Services is setting up around the building. Can you get us in?" He turned to Clarice.

"Yeah, I think so." She answered.

A loud noise came from the distance. Everyone instinctively turned towards the source.

"What the hell was that?" Lorna asked

"I am pretty sure we are gonna find out" Marcos said

"And we surely won't like it" Alex added.

They walked over to Clarice, who has just a few meters away and stepped behind her, ready for the portal to open. Magenta light formed in her hands and she stretched it, making the portal bigger. Everyone around him looked battle ready and so was he. Soon the portal was wide enough for them to pass.

In the building windows were breaking and the noise sounded like the one they had heard from the woods. Marcos was right, about them finding out.

"Where are they?" Lorna had to yell, so they could hear her.

"Down the hall." John screamed back and they kept running with struggle.

Around them the world was in chaos. Door were slamming open, chairs, paper and metal shreds we're being tossed around like toys.

They managed to climb up the stairs into the other floor of the building.

"This way, come on!" John rushed ahead.

Alex could hear the big window exploding to pieces behind him. He kept running ahead, not daring to look back. They raced down the left hallway, another right turn leading them to the Struckers.

"Come on" Johnny yelled and bended down to help Andy, while Marcos, Lorna, Alex and Clarice rushed to help the other girl and boy.

"Hey, come on, we gotta go, we will cover you." Marcos said as he was helping the girl up.

They ran back through the same path as fast as they could. They entered in the hallway with the staircase. Marcos, Lorna, Alex and John were just about to go down after the other, when another big explosion shook the place. The shock wave threw Alex and Marcos a few feet back, but Lorna was knocked into the air over the cross-beam. Alex quickly pushed himself from the ground, ignoring the pain in his back and ran to the stairs, caughting Lorna as she fell.

Marcos turned to her, a light stain of yellow on his cheek. "Lorna!" He exclaimed with worry.

"I am okay. " She said getting up and rushing towards Marcos.

"Lorna" He repeated "I am okay." She hugged him and the quickly turned to Alex giving him a quick hug as well. "Thank you"

"It's too powerful, get us out of here now! " John screamed as Clarice showed up from the staircase. She gave him a quick nod and turned back, climbing down.

They quickly followed and found themselves at same place, from which they entered. Blink opened another portal, this time way faster and the team stepped into the woods. They moved into the forest, squatting down so they could use the bushes as a cover.

"We have to get out of here." Lorna said, quietly.

"Yeah, we can't take on those hounds. We will never make it, if they see us." Marcos agreed.

"If it comes down to it, we can only slow them down." Alex said

John stepped ahead and touched the ground, concentrating his hearing again. "Ohh, they are out in the woods, car's blown, they will be here soon" He said turning to face them.

"They need to be distracted, just let me.." Alex begann, but Lorna cut him in mid sentence.

"I know what you are going to suggest. You won't be used as a distraction." She whispered.

"Lorna, we need the car. I will knock them out." He said.

"Your power isn't exactly discreet. " Lorna argued back quietly.

Alex was about to try to convince her again, but Andy's sudden rousing, caught his attention.

"We go that way." The boy said, pointing.

"The woods are full of agents." His father said, but Andy insisted. "They said it was safe."

"Who said it was safe?" His sister asked.

The boy got up, eagerness in his words. "I know how to get out of here, just follow me." He ran off into the woods, his mother calling behind him.

Everyone rushed after him, careful not to be seen. Alex hoped Andy was right about the direction, otherwise God help them. They ran ahead trough the trees, Andy's words urging them to continue "This way."

Not to far away, two cars were parked. They kept running, until they saw the Frosts sisters. Two of the agents were squirming on the ground, holding heads in their hands. "Help me." One of them weakly said. The triplets's were glowing bright blue. "Let's go." The one in the middle said.

The eyes got back to normal. "What are you doing to them?" Reed asked, looking down at the agents.

"We are just giving them something to think about." One of them said. "And we know, how you are squeamish about killing. " They said in unison, with smirks on their lips. Reed snorted at them.

"More agents coming this way, too many for us to handle." John said

"Well then, I guess you better get in. " The sisters said and went to car doors. The team allocated in one of the cars, Marcos rather hesitantly.

The trip back to the headquarters was quiet, no one really saying anything. Alex had noticed that the one of the two sisters in the car, looked over at all them a couple of times. Alex had returned the looks.

Soon they were back and out of the cars. Reed and Caitlin went in first supporting the unconscious again Andy, followed by Lauren, who was helping Wes. The others went in with the sisters. They had a lot to discuss. Inside, Clarice followed the Struckers to two empty beds, where they put the hurt.

Alex, however, wanted to hear what the Frosts had to say and find out if the alliance would be happening after all.

"Thanks for the help." He said. After all these girls had saved their asses and as he had hurt it was for a second time.

"You are welcome." They said and smirked again. Their smiles were very unsettling most of the time. There was something cold and dominant in the way these three smiled. It reminded him of Emma from her Brotherhood days quite a lot, but after all they were her daughters.

"How did you even find us? " Marcos asked.

"We told you, we have sources." One of them, who seemed to be Esme said. For a second Alex thought that one of them had looked at him.

"So, the mutants that were attacking us, that is what you were warning us about. It's what Campbell was working on at Trask? John asked.

"That was just the start." One of the sisters behind Esme said "It's going to get worse." The other said "Much worse. That is why we need your help." Esme finished and Marcos pulled his head back.

"Okay... and you can get us to Campbell. We can end this? " Lorna asked with hands crossed over her chest.

The Frosts looked at her. "We wouldn't be here, if we couldn't." Lorna raised her eyebrow and smiled back at them.

One more time, Alex could see how much she wanted this to work and how much Marcos detested the idea. He moved his gaze from Lorna to the Frosts.

"So" Esme started "What's it going to be?" They asked together.

The leaders and Alex shared a look. John met their eyes with an even look. "We will have to discuss it.

"Don't take too long." The sisters said and Johnny pulled the others a few meters back.

"We need to do this fast." He said and looked at them.

"I shared my opinion the last discussion and I still stand behind it. " Lonra said and Marcos gave something like a pleading look, which she returned with stubbornness.

"I still think, you need them as allies. " Alex nodded.

"We can do it our way." Marcos said, crossing his hands over his chest.

John walked over to them, without saying a word. Alex, Marcos and Lorna followed him. He had made his choice as well. It could be read in his eyes, the pure determination, just a little doubt left in there.

"We are in." He said

"Good." They said

It was done. They were allies now and Alex could ask them about Rachel's location, about the contacts Emma had kept, everything.

"We will be here soon, when we have more information about Campbell." They said. The leaders nodded and the sisters turned on their heels, heading to the door. Lorna, Marcos and John followed them, to the exit. Alex went with them, trying to find a gap, where no one was looking to ask one of the triplets. Before they went out, one of the sisters,who he was behind, slowed down, dropping behind the others. She didn't turn back, just started to speak quietly.

"Go in the same building as before. Our mother will be waiting for you." She said and Alex slightly nodded.

She continued straight ahead and caught up with her sisters outside. Alex stayed at the frame of the door. He met Lorna's gaze for a second and looked and she came to him, pulling his arm.

"One of them told you something" She said.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, trying to look confused. Alex knew it was a stupid question, she had seen, but he didn't know what else to say. Emma did tell him that he would have to help 'when the time comes' whenever that meant. He wasn't sure what he could tell the Underground. Nothing? Everything? The first was more reasonable. For now he had to stick to lying even to Lorna. He could ask Emma, when he had the chance.

"She said something and you nodded behind her." Lorna said, anger crawling in her eyes. "Is there something you aren't telling us?"

"It was nothing important. She thanked me for voting for this alliance." He said quickly, looking away from her.

He wasn't good with hiding his emotion. Alex had been told that time and time again from different people. Now, he felt guilty for lying to Lorna. His only hope was, that she couldn't read his body language good enough.

"If you say so." She said, unconvinced and entered.

Alex sighed and ran a hand thought his hair. He wanted to talk to her, but that would be stupid, as he didn't know what to say and more lies wouldn't make it better. Plus, Emma was waiting for him.

The walk to the building was quiet. The streets weren't busy and there weren't end people around. He had left the headquarters quickly and without a word. If anyone asked him where he was, he would say he needed fresh air.

He walked around an hour, until he came close to the high building. Alex followed the same route to reach the 12th floor, passing the receptionist and entering the elevator.

Emma was waiting for him, sitting on the coach with a glass of champagne. How classic.

"Well done." She began and took a sip. "I was informed we are allies now."

"We are and I want what I came for Emma." Alex said crossing his hands over his chest.

"Very good. I will assemble a team, but we will have to ask the Underground to help for this mission." She said

"I recall, you said they are 'untrained and not organised enough' to help." Alex said smirking.

Emma rolled her eyes. " Please save me the judgmental mom tone and listen. The facility is bigger and better secured than I was last informed." Emma explained, taking another sip. "We will need every help we can get to save Rachel."

"Why isn't Campbell using her now? The mutant problem is centred in Atlanta now, after you know... out cells crumbled. " He said, trying not to dive into the painful memories.

"The hounds from that facility are going to be shipped to Atlanta soon, but in an unknown facility, which isn't Trask. This is our only chance to reach her, before she disappears." Emma said meeting his eyes. "Rachel and I never had warm feelings for each other, but I will be damned before I let her in there, serving as some mutant dog."

"Okay then but what should I tell the Underground about it?" Alex asked.

Emma had rarely let her emotions to get out of control. Most of the time, she was the perfect image of calm coldness, but in these rare moments where she had gotten angry, she was unstoppable. After her words, Alex knew that they would get Rachel, whatever it took.

"Tell them my girls had told you about Rachel and that her rescue will be a step forward to helping all hounds. Also, we will take the data from the facility. All of this should convince them." Emma said and stood up.

"Okay, I can do that." Alex said "I can't tell Lorna about the Hellfire Club, can I?" He asked, looking away.

"How do you think?" Emma asked, walking around the room with the glass in hand.

"That, I shouldn't" He answered

"Exactly. For now I will need you there. If they are uncertain about the alliance, I would need you to help my girls maintain it. You will join us when the time comes." Emma said

Alex just nodded. He still didn't like the idea of joining the Hellfire Club. It all felt like one big betrayal and it probably was. Actually scratch that, it was the definition of betrayal and it didn't suit with him. Charles's teachings, his hope for the future and the world were still sowed inside him and make him despise himself for his choices even if they felt right in his mind. His heart was screaming him to stop, to say no and walk away, but he couldn't. Emma could help him. "Was that all?" He asked

"Yes, you will have to convince them tonight and tomorrow at 10 a.m. my girls will arrive and take you to the meeting place." Emma walked over to the little table in front of the coach and left the glass on it. "Good luck Alexander."

"Bye Emma." He turned back and pressed the button for the elevator. The door opened in a few seconds and Alex stepped inside. He pressed the first button on the silver panel. Before the door closed he met Emma's cold blue eyes for the last time. How did they ended up like this?

After an hour or so he was back at the headquarters. Alex stopped in front of the entrance and took a deep breath. It was time to act. He entered and looked around to see one of the leaders. Luckily, Lorna just turned around the corner.

"Lorna!" Alex called and the green-haired mutant turned to face him.

"Where were you?" Was the first thing she said.

"What, you missed me?" He winked at her, but her face remained unemotional. Yup, she wasn't in the mood for jokes. "I will explain later, Lorna, there is something important I need to talk to everyone about." He cut to the point.

She raised her eyebrow. "You want me to gather everyone?"

"Preferably the combatants and people active on the field." Alex said

"Okay... " Lorna said confused. "Give me a minute and I hope the explanation for your behaviour is in what you have to say. Wait for us in the side room."

"It is" He confirmed and Lorna left. Alex made his way to the room, in which she told him to go. True to her words Lorna came in after a few minutes, followed by John, Marcos, Clarice, Sage and the Struckers minus Andy.

"Well, what is it?" John asked first.

"The Frosts sisters...they told me that Sentinel Services had a facility in Virginia... " He began, but didn't had the chance the finish.

"Wait, wait when did you talk to the Frosts?" Marcos asked and Alex gave him an angry look.

Did he seriously clung to that? Alex took a deep breath and tried not to punch him. 'Punching people isn't the answer' He thought and looked at the man in from of him.

"Trust me this isn't the important part." He said trying to cover his irritation. He could bet that it didn't work.

"But it is a part, which makes this interesting." Reed said crossing his arms over his chest.

Someone needed to remind Alex, why did this man come to the meeting too. He sighed from annoyance. He had to convince them tonight, but with that tempo he wouldn't be able to.

"They talked to the me the night they came to ask for help for the first time okay." He said forcing his voice to be calm. That seemed to shut them up, but Lorna looked at him with understanding. Did they talk to her that night too?

"Continue" She said and Alex nodded

"In this facility in Virginia they are holding hounds, that will be soon transported to Atlanta, strong hounds. I think we will have to travel there and stop this shipment. We can take the data from their drives. This will be a step forward to understand the hounds and how to help them." He said and looked at their faces.

They looked like they were thinking about it. For now that worked.

"Why did they tell you about it? Why not us?" John asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Because...one of the hounds there is my niece." He said, not realizing his knuckles had turned white from grabbing the table. It was worse when he had said it out loud. At this moment he realized he would go there on his own, if he had too.

He looked up and the first eyes he met were Lorna's. Her deep green eyes were full of sympathy.

"Why are telling us know?" Clarice asked after the silence had passed.

"It was too confusing... and too many things happened in a short period of time." He lied.

Clarice nodded and Caitlin spoke up. "The last time we infiltrated a facility we knew nothing about, our children got taken and Sonya ended up dead."

Alex had no idea who Sonya was, but evidently she was part of the Mutant Underground before. The Underground had their own loses too after all.

"You assume, we know nothing about it." Alex said, which got him everyone's attention. "The Frosts know the building, the security, they even have the blueprint."

"You want us to trust them with this too. We are diving in the unknown with this operation. Our priority is Campbell. If we take him down, we will save your niece." Marcos said

"In this lab is kept the data, which is key to the whole brainwashing. We can break it with this information and same more hounds." Alex said, glaring at him.

"The Frosts told you all of this?" Lauren asked and he nodded.

"She didn't thank you for the vote, did she?" Lorna asked and a shadow passed trough her face.

"No, she told me to ask you for help." Alex said, meeting her eyes. He couldn't feel guilty now.

"You disappeared for three hours earlier." Marcos stated "Where?"

"This starts to sound like an interrogation" Alex sighed "I went to meet with them and discuss the situation. They told me to ask for your help and explain the situation."

"So, you are meeting with them behind our backs?" Marcos asked.

Lorna looked at her boyfriend and gave him am angry look. "You mean, like you used your connection to the Cartel to help save me?" She asked.

"Lorna, this is different. The Cartel... I knew they would help, but the Frosts... " Marcos was cut in mid sentence

"Are our allies now." Lorna said harshly and looked at Alex. "I vote to go there."

Alex gave her a thankful smile. It was good to know, even if she was angry with him for lying, she would step up and help him, when he needed her. God, he couldn't help, but love her.

"Where are we going to receive the information about the facility?" John asked.

"Tomorrow. The Frosts would come here and drive us to a meeting spot." He explained

"Who are we meeting?" Clarice asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I asked them to dug up some of my old associates and they agreed, so we will meet with some of the surviving X-men." Alex said and couldn't help, but feel impatient to meet the others. At least he would find out who was alive.

"Okay then, then I am in as well." John said and Marcos sighed.

"Let's do this." He agreed at last.

"I am in as well." Clarice announced and Alex gave her a nod. The other people in the room nodded too, some more hesitant than others.

"Tomorrow at 10 the Frosts will be here." Alex informed them and the people started exiting the room one by one. Lorna was the only one that stayed behind. "You shouldn't have lied to me." She said, the sound more upset than angry.

"I was just... confused" Alex said "I need to discuss this with them first."

Lorna nodded and then sighed. "I get it, but doing this behind our backs isn't good. I may have defended you, but that doesn't agree with what you did." She said

"I get that and I am really sorry." Alex said

"And you never said you have a niece." Lorna said hesitantly as she was afraid not to say something wrong.

"It never came up in a conversation." Alex shrugged "Her name's Rachel." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"We will help her, I promise." She said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I know." He said and looked at her "Thanks Lorna, for agreeing to this mission."

Lorna shrugged casually "No problem... The Frosts talked to you that night?" She asked after a short silence.

"Yup. They talked to you too?" He answered with a question.

"Yeah, Esme talked to me about being their allies and the Hellfire Club, my powers." Lorna explained, looking down at her hands.

"What about your powers?" Alex asked, raising a brow. So these three weren't only trying to convince him into an alliance. They had targeted Lorna too and that definitely didn't please him.

"The baby makes me stronger. My power is growing." Lorna said smiling.

Alex had noticed the way Lorna glowed, when she talked about that baby. It made him smile as well. He had forgotten how much he liked seeing her smiling and happy. Two years ago he couldn't even imagine it, but now she was here and at the same time so far away, like a dream.

"This baby is one helluva fighter then, like it's mother." He smiled at her and put a lock of her hair behind her ear. Lorna looked away and Alex realized he had crossed a line. He stepped away and rubbed his back. "What did you meant by 'save me' when you talked to Marcos?" Alex asked, changing the subject of conversation.

"I was arrested a few months ago." Lorna said and bowed her head down. "We were saving Clarice and Marcos was shot. I was so angry that In attacked the policeman and well... I was arrested." She finished and Alex's eyes widened.

At this moment he wished he was there to help her, but he wasn't. How many more things had he missed in her life?

"It sucked didn't it?" He half smiled. He could only imagine what kind of hell it must have been.

"Yeah, it did." She smiled as well, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. Instead, it left them empty, emotionless.

"I shouldn't have asked." He said

"It's okay, I asked about Rachel." Lorna said and the air in the room was filled with silent awkwardness.

"It's getting late." Alex said and ran a hand thought his hair. " I think, I am going to lie down for a little."

"Yeah, me too. Goodnight Alex." Lorna said and gave him one last smile, before leaving the room.

"Goodnight Lorna" He said and was left alone. Alex propped himself on the table and bowed his head down. He shouldn't have gotten that close to her. Lorna had a boyfriend and baby on the way. Alex didn't fit the picture, he was liability. She was still his friend, but he wanted so much more. Of course, there was no choice on that matter. Her friendship was everything to him.

Alex made his way to his room and threw himself on the bed and covered himself with the thick sheet. Soon he felt into uneasy sleep.

 _Everything was black. He looked around effortlessly. Nothing could be seen, because of the darkness. The damn back up energy reactor was supposed to be on by now. Something has gone wrong. Alex had pulled energy to his hands, red circles generating around his clenched fists. The light made him see a little better, but he still felt like he was blind._

 _He moved slowly, listening carefully for steps echoing on the floor. The fight was taken to the lower levels. It all seemed quiet. Alex made his way to the stairs, paying attention to every step he was making forward. One step, another step and another. The room lighted up in red as the back up generator was turned on. Alex heard heavy steps pounding on the ground, along with the sound of man carrying guns. He showed himself from behind the corner and charged against the men. Havok sent a blast to one of the agents and ran to the other, punching him directly in the throat. The man gave out a sound of pain and dropped the gun down. Alex used the moment to kick him in the stomach, which left him on the ground._

 _The third agent fired and Alex dodged the bullet only inches from his head. He sent another blast, this time thought his chest, sending the man flying in the wall behind him._

 _"Alex, lookout!"_

 _The scream made him turn back at Hank, who was running as fast as he could from the other end of the hallway. The agent, who he thought he knocked out first had gotten up and taken the gun, aiming for his head. Hank launched himself at the man, knocking him to the ground, before he could shoot._

 _"Thanks Beast" Alex said and stepped towards his friend, when he heard a loud 'bang' coming from nearby._

 _Suddenly Hank turned to his left and ran ahead, what seemed to be another attacker. Alex ran back and then left to help, but before he could reach, a few more gunshots echoed through the building. At the end of the hallway he was Hank trying to get up, as the agent was looking at him from above, aiming his gun._

 _"Time to die, mutie" The man said with a disgusted look on his face._

 _Alex sent a blast of energy at him and he was knocked back. Havok ran ahead and reached Hank, trying to help him up._

 _"Alex, don't, just let me lean on the wall for a second." He said with great struggle, his face curved in a painful expression. He pushed himself to the wall and rested his head on the cold stone, his hand pressing his stomach._

 _"Hank, you have been shot, we need to find you help, you are losing blood fast." Alex insisted, trying to pull him up._

 _"Alex, don't. We can't find medical help in time." Beast said, meeting his friend's eyes._

 _"NO!" Alex exclaimed as he realized where the situation was headed. "Hank, I won't leave you." He said, feeling his eyes watering._

 _Alex, please just... " Hank said weakly, but couldn't finish._

 _"No, don't Alex me. Get up soldier." He commanded and helped him pull himself up. They moved slowly for 10 minutes, each step was struggle for Hank. They had a med bay in the headquarters. If he could only get him there..._

 _A few Sentinel Service agents turned around the corner and opens fire as soon as they saw they. Alex quickly let Hank drop to the ground and let the cosmic energy consume him. He fired blasts towards the attackers. The bullets that were shot were vaporizing in the hot plasma, before they had a chance to hit him. Alex moved ahead cutting the distance and sending another blast towards the agents. Soon they were all knocked out and Alex felt exhaustion taking over him._

 _He made his way back to Hank, trying to keep himself conscious. "Come on." He helped him up again and they continued walking. "Marvel Girl, can you hear me?" Alex asked at the comlink_

 _"Loud and clear Havok, the perimeter is clear here." Rachel said from the other side of the connection_

 _"Beast is hurt, I would need to get to the med bay, but... " He started, but a loud noise from the other end cut him off. "Marvel... are you there?" Alex asked, the worry increasing._

 _" They have brought Sentinels!" Rachel exclaimed and a a couple of throbbing noises could be heard._

 _"Damn it." Alex muttered to himself. "Rachel, try to escape them and head to the med bay, we will meet there._

 _"Roger that, stay safe." Rachel said "You too" Alex replied._

 _He swept through the corridors supporting Hank, which was getting harder by the minute due to his weight, but Alex brought himself to continue further. Sean was supposed to be at the bottom level, evacuating the refugees._

 _The Sentinel Services attack had been surprising and well organized. It had been well thought through and carefully executed. They hadn't had time to react and it had all escalated fairly quickly. The agents had caught some of the mutants, before they had had a chance to escape. Only a few of them had surrendered as if this would make it easier for them. Rachel, Sean, Alex and Hank had taken one floor of the building each, in order to protect it and fight the agents off. It had worked, but then the energy reaction had been cut off and the attackers had backed off. As Alex had supposed it had been a trap, which had intended to created a false feeling of safety. Havok had wanted to laugh at it. These agents really had thought they were that stupid, but alas they had another surprise. The shitty Sentinels. Faster, stronger and more durable than ever and... looking like spiders._

 _Both mutants reached the staircase and Alex went down, step by step, careful not to make harsh movements to Hank's sake. They stepped on the ground and Alex looked left and right to make sure the perimeter was clear. Of course, with their damned luck, three of the spider like creature were waiting for them in the left hallway. Havok quickly shoved Hank behind him muttering an excuse. The robots reached him the same second as he had turned to face them. Instinctively, he shot a blast at them, but it wasn't strong enough to destroy them. Alex felt the red energy crawling under his skin, the raw power and channeled it in all directions, disintegrating the Sentinels to bits and pieces. The glow faded and he saw black circles swimming before his vision. He blinked a couple of times and turned to Hank._

 _To his surprise, a few Sentinels were trying to claw over to him, but the beast was fighting them off with struggle. A wave of anger went through him and he launched himself ahead, to destroy the machines. Why couldn't they just leave them alone?_

 _One blast, then another and it wasn't enough. His power levels had decreased a lot, since the beginning of the attack six hours ago. He focused another beam, from both hands, knocking back the Sentinels. The bleeding from Hank's wounds had increased and he looked like crap. A mechanical sound made him turn back. More Sentinels. 'They have got to be kidding me!' He thought and sent another wave of beams towards them. The first row or spiders, melted, but the others kept coming. There were dozens._

 _Alex took a deep breath, gathering the plasma in his hands. Havok was just about to send another wave of destruction, but the familiar sight of the orange telekinetic energy relieved him, even before he saw Rachel herself. She was hovering above the ground, tossing the machines around the hallway. A smile of comfort appeared on Alex's lips and he turned back to check if it was clear. When he was convinced, that in fact it was, Alex took a step forward sending another wave of blast towards the Sentinels, careful not to harm Rachel._

 _She managed to toss them all in the opposite end of the hallway, tearing some of their mechanical bodies apart. Now the path in front of Alex and Hank was clear. "Hurry!" She said and lifted Hank carefully in the air, using her telekinesis._

 _Alex and Rachel ran ahead, a few of the remaining Sentinels rushing behind them. Alex swore under his breath, but kept running. They turned around the corner and Rachel quickly pushed the red button on the control panel, which was attached to the wall. A heavy metal door came sliding down from the ceiling and splitted up the hallway with it's shutting._

 _They continued walking ahead, keeping their guard up, in case there was another danger coming. Quick steps echoed in the hallway, the source coming their direction. Alex's hands glowed with plasma at his command and he prepared for an attack. A familiar freckled face and blue eyes turned around the corned. Sean stopped, panting. "I was starting to get worried." He said and smiled, exhausted. "Let's go, Hank doesn't look well." Banshee said and Alex nodded, smiling back at him._

 _The medical bay was destroyed and the equipment was smashed to the ground, probably by Sentinel Services. The outcome didn't look good. Hank was bleeding heavily and they didn't have where to get him help from. Alex turned to Sean and Rachel. "We will have to get to the cars. There should be some place, where they could help him." He said and his friends nodded._

 _The first few room and corridors they had passed through were all clear, which was good. The exit was very near and Alex felt his adrenaline raising. They turned another corner and to their despair in the room were gathered a couple of agents, who immediately noticed them. Rachel put up a telekinetic shield to protect them. She put Hank on the ground, holding his wounds with her telekinesis. The bullets bounced of the shield._

 _"Rach, put it down." Banshee said and took a deep breath. Rachel did as she was told and Sean screamed. The agents fell on the ground clinching their heads. The group of mutants was just about to move forward, when more Sentinel Service agents fled in the room._

 _Alex, Sean and Rachel hold them off, trying to protect Hank, who was in no condition to fight, at the same time. When the last man was knocked out, a few more came in, accompanied by Sentinels. These people had solid back ups._

 _The fight continued. Alex was blasting every enemy he could lay his eyes upon, Sean and Rachel did the same. It was going well, the mutants fighting like a well-pitched machine._

 _A Sentinel managed to creep behind Rachel's back as she was fighting. Before Alex could attack it or warm his niece, the spider-like robot caught her leg and slammed her down on the ground. The impact made Rachel lose consciousness._

 _"Rachel!" Alex screamed and tried to reach her, but the creature was faster. It started to drag her quickly out of the room. Havok tried to blast it, but one of the agents nearby noticed and aimed his gun at him. Alex dodged the bullet in the last second and blasted the man away._

 _As he turned towards the direction, where Rachel was a minute ago, she was gone, along with the small Sentinel. Alex turned to Sean, who was fighting of the last agent in the room. He punched him in the face and then emitted a short scream, sending him to the ground. The wave of coming agents stopped and everything fell silent._

 _"They got Rachel." Alex said, gritting his teeth._

 _"We have to take care of Hank first." Sean insisted "If we don't find him help, he is going to die."_

 _Alex nodded and headed over to his furry friend. The wounds were opened again and bleeding heavily. Two in the stomach area and one in the chest. The two men were about to pick him up, when Hank coughed loudly._

 _"It's too late, you won't make it in time." He said, his voice merely a whisper._

 _"Hank, you have to get up." Alex pleaded, feeling helpless. "We can make it."_

 _"Alex!" Hank snapped. "Please stop." He said again, this time much weakly. His eyes began to close and Sean shook his shoulders._

 _"You can't give up Hank, not now" Sean insisted, sounding desperate._

 _"You have been great friends, both of you... even if me and Alex didn't start on great terms."Hank said with a faint smile._

 _He was dying... and there was nothing they could do. The realization hit him hard, like a lighting from a clear sky. His teammate, his best friend was lying in a small pool of his own blood and was dying. It was a miracle he had survived that long with three shot wounds, but Hank was stubborn and tough. Apparently as stubborn as you are, you can die. He didn't deserve it, but life wasn't fair. Sometimes the best of people die first._

 _Alex still remembered the nerd with the glasses that he had teased about his big feet. It seemed stupid to him then. A boy with a simple and harmless mutation as big feet to hide it and be ashamed of it. It was the opposite of Alex's destructive power set. It was pissing him off then. They had bonded afterwards, he, Hank and Sean becoming the best of friends and a great team. Alex couldn't lose his best friend, not after he had lost Scott. He felt the tears in his eyes, but refused to let them flow, refused to sink in the ocean of desperation._

 _"You were the bestest friend too, Hank." Sean said and tried to laugh, which came out more like a sob. His tears were flowing free down his cheeks._

 _Alex couldn't bring himself to say anything, the shadow of helplessness trying to drown him. He knew he should say goodbye to his friend._

 _" We had a rough start didn't we?" He laughed, the sound bitter and joyless._

 _" Yeah.. " Hank laughed as well, coughing blood. "You have to keep fighting, continue our dream, Charles's dream." Hank said. "I believe in you guys and... I love you both."_

 _"We love you too." Sean said,his voice trembling and grief written all over his face."_

 _"We love you Hank." Alex said, the words hard to say. He blinked, the tears slipping down his cheeks. "We will fight... we will fight. Rest in peace...bozo" Alex said, his body shaking._

 _A faint smile shone on Hank's face. "Goodbye." He said quietly and his eyes slowly closed._

 _"Goodbye." Alex and Sean both said._

 _Hank drew one last breath and exhaled slowly, life leaving his body. He didn't move anymore, didn't say anything else. Henry McCoy was dead._

 _Alex started at his friend's lifeless body, cursing Sentinel Services, cursing these bigoted flatscans, who couldn't see beyond their own two eyes. The person that shot Hank, had seen a big furry monster. This man couldn't be farther from the truth. He screamed from anger and helplessness, punching the wall. Sean was talking to him, but he couldn't hear him. He punched it again and again, shouting curses towards the murderers._

Alex woke up with a scream. Drops of sweat were rolling down his forehead and he looked around, panting. He realized, he was in his room and covered his face with his hands. The nightmare felt so real and the memory of it was vivid, like it had happened yesterday. He felt the pain in his chest increase, his heart was literally hurting.

It was light outside, so it he decided against trying to fall asleep again. He couldn't risk another nightmare like this one.

Alex put on his shirt and made his way downstairs. To his surprise most of the people were already up, doing their usual stuff.

"The Frosts will be here soon." Lorna said coming closer.

"Is everyone ready?" Alex asked and she nodded. He could see the question in her eyes. "I am fine, just a nightmare." He said and looked away.

"Do you want to talk about it? " She asked

"Not really. We have to go." He said and walked passed her.

"Alex!" Lorna called behind him, but he kept walking. He would apologize later.

It was rude and she didn't do anything wrong, but he couldn't discuss it now. It was too soon and the mission in hand was too important for distractions of any kind.

Two black cars parked in front of the headquarters. The three blond girls exited them, almost at the same time and faced the mutants from the Underground.

"Good morning. We hope you are ready." They said in unison per usual.

"We are." Alex answered directly and they all entered the cars, without much kindnesses, greetings and hesitation.

Clarice, Lorna, John, Marcos, Lauren, the Strucker parents and Sage were there for the mission. Alex could protest against Reed and Caitlin coming, because there was no point in them being there and could be huge liabilities, but John had obviously approved. Alex didn't had time to argue with Thunderbird's decisions, even if he wanted to.

The cars left the area of the headquarters and the wide, straight road spread out before them.

 **A/N:**

 **I am really sorry for the late update, but has been keeping me very busy. I enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the dream sequence, because I love angst :) Hope you enjoyed it and I will try to update again next weekend. See ya!**


	10. Chapter 10

Apparently, the meeting place was in the freaking desert, because they have been driving for a long time and no civilized world could be seen in the distance, only trees and the road in front of them.

Alex was surprised at his own impatience, during the ride. Not that he usually wasn't that way, on the contrary they were many people, who could confirm that his fuse was rather short, but today he was too impatient... or excited, it was probably both.

The thought of seeing some of his old teammates and friends again, even for a short period of time and even if they were going to spend their time together, infiltrating a laboratory to save one of their own and not die in the progress, was making him happy.

Alex felt this pure happiness in his stomach, that he thought he couldn't feel anymore. Not for long anyway. For the first time in so long he was expecting something that wasn't connected with another mission, fight or death itself.

The thing was, that he thought he had learned to repress his emotions better and keep his impatient tendencies in check. He was probably wrong. The realization came bitter to him. He was never good at hiding what he felt ever since he was a teenager. It got better in time, but it still needed improving, apparently.

Alex had realized a long time ago, that feelings made people vulnerable. In this world, in their world, if you are happy, there always would be someone to steal that glimpse of happiness from you. If you love anyone, there would always be someone to use this person against you. It was depressing, but it was truth. An example of that was Emma using Rachel to get what she wanted from him, namely, to join the Hellfire club.

Most of his emotions, he could manage well enough, but his anger was a major part of him that couldn't be denied. Anger towards the people, who had hunted him and his friends since they were a little more than kids, just because they existed. Anger towards people like Magneto, who had shown the world, that it should fear them. Anger towards himself for not being able to save his friends when he had the chance.

Occasionally, Charles had mentioned that anger was destructive, that it was what had set Erik and Raven down their path. It was a disturbing thought that he possessed some part of that.

"And we are heading where exactly?" Lorna asked. Surprisingly no one had asked that question until now. Probably, because Marcos, Reed and Caitlin were in the other car and they were the most suspicious about the Frosts and would ask the most questions, even if they were their allies.

"The gathering place is a carefully selected abandoned Hellfire Club base in Virginia," Esme, who was driving the car said, without taking her eyes off of the road.

"I thought we will meet the others before entering Virginia," Clarice remarked, looking at Alex for some reason.

"Apparently not. Does it matter really? We are going to Virginia nonetheless," Alex answered, shrugging.

After more six hours on the road, Alex felt like losing his mind from boredom and the good old impatience. Not because it was silent in the car, it actually wasn't, but he was eager to meet the others. The few conversations they had maintained in the vehicle, had been keeping him calm.

"Are you nervous?," Alex saw Clarice ask the blond girl next to her. Lauren, yes, her name was Lauren Strucker.

"A little, considering the last time we infiltrated a facility like that..." She trailed off, but Clarice seemed to understand exactly what she was about to say.

"Don't worry. It won't be like before. I am sure of that."

There was something about Clarice's voice that left no place for arguing. There was strength and determination in the tone she used, that seemed to help Lauren relax. Alex had heard the same tone used by Lorna a couple of times.

 _"No!" Lorna's tone was sharp, "You are not a freak, Alex. You are special, you have a gift that no one else has," She said looking into his eyes, "Do you hear me? You are not a freak. You are a good person and an amazing friend," Lorna said "I want you to remember that and never forget it."_

The corners of his lips turned up and he looked at his hands.

"And are you nervous?," Lorna asked him and his head shot up, his gaze meeting hers.

"Me? Never," He shrugged with a smirk, but Lorna looked unconvinced by his words. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Lorna tilted her head on one side. "I just know, you are lying,"

Alex narrowed his eyes towards her and then shook his head. "Yeah... I am nervous,"

It felt weird to admit it. In the past he never did, not wanting to look weak or vulnerable to the others. That habit of his was chasing him, even here after so much time. His nervousness was uncalled for and he realized that. Alex knew what he had to do and he wouldn't let anything stop him. He knew he could do it and mistakes couldn't be afforded. Despite of that, the little not of nerves in his stomach was still there, beating against his chest, like it was trying to choke him.

"Well, I didn't expect you to actually admit your lie," Lorna smirked.

"I am trying to be unpredictable," He said with a grin, forgetting his thoughts. Lorna had the ability to help him relax and distract himself when he needed to. Even if she had noticed his troubled expressions, she hadn't commented on them, if she felt it wasn't a good time. He loved that about her. The trust she was showing him, when she believed he was okay, when he said he was.

Lorna rolled her eyes, but the smile didn't leave her face. A sign, she was amused and not irritated at him, "You are impossible."

"Thanks," Alex replied, smirking as well. A mixture of amusement and frustration always made its way on her face, when he teased her. He enjoyed that expression to no end and made sure she knew.

She shook her head, the amuse-frustrated expression sliding onto her face.

"Never expected an X-man to admit he is nervous about a mission," Lauren commented, before Alex could say anything else to Lorna.

He looked towards the blond girl. From what he knew about the Struckers, she was just a teenager, around the same age as him, when he had become an X-man.

"We get scared and nervous too, especially before heading towards danger," He said with a slight smile. This is what this world does, it is what its always done, send children to war and leaving others to assure them that everything was alright when it hardly was.

"Yeah, but you guys looked so... natural to it...fearless," Lauren said and ran a hand through her hair with a sigh.

"I assure you, we get terrified too and I am sure one of my teammates had pееd himself at least on time," Alex said, trying to lighten up the mood and laughter broke into the car. Even Esme looked amused by the joke. The tension left Lauren's face and her face lightened.

A lonely stone building cleared up in the distance. In a few minutes they were even closer to it and Esme made a turn, entering the parking lot.

The building itself wasn't high or fancy. It was solid stone and didn't stood out with anything. It was a good choice for a meeting place, as it looked abandoned and didn't draw attention.

On the so said parking lot, there was one more car, looking identical to theirs.

Alex unbuckled the belt and opened the door, stepping out of the vehicle. The sun was bright and it forced him to half-close his eyes. The others exited the car as well and so did the people from the second one.

For the first time he saw actually how many people were there for the mission and even more were expected. This facility must be constructed like a tank, if Emma needed so many to attack it.

"Where are the others?" Alex asked, looking at the two Frosts in front of him. The third one was nowhere to be seen.

"Phoebe should get them here soon," They said in unison and Alex gave them a short nod.

Just as they finished the sentence, another black car arrived and parked next to the others. Phoebe, apparently, didn't care about straight parking as she took places for two vehicles with hers.

The blond got out of the car first and approached her sisters.

Alex turned his gaze to the car again as two people went out as well. He couldn't hide his smile as he saw the familiar ginger-haired man closing the door. When the other person showed up, Alex had almost expect it to be Hank, standing next to Sean. Almost, but it was enough for numb pain to press against his chest.

Instead, it was a girl in her early twenties with brown hair and eyes to match it.

"Sean freaking Cassidy," Alex chimed, approaching his friend. The two exchanged a hug and he quickly turned to the girl with a smile, "Kitty"

"Alex," She smiled back, genuinely and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug with a laugh and they parted.

"You are not dead yet," Sean commented with a sheepish grin and Alex turned to face him again.

"I can't be killed remember?" He flashed him a grin and Sean rolled his eyes. Next to them Kitty shook her head with a smile.

She looked older now and somewhat more mature. Kitty had definitely changed. There was fullness under hey eyes, probably from lack of sleep. Her smile had lost its childhood innocence and brightness. The bubbly thirteen-year-old girl he had met was gone. However, the old determination was still burning in her eyes. She knew exactly why she was here. Good.

Sean looked paler and his smiles seemed sadder, missing the goofy spirit he once possessed. Time and lose had taken a lot from him as it seemed. However, just like with Kitty, Sean looked ready to fight.

"I am glad you are here Alex," He said and Alex nodded.

Something unspoken hung in the air between the two men, but Alex understood what he meant. _I am glad you are not dead as well._

"Glad to be here," He said at last and turned to the others behind him, "I believe introductions will have to wait until we are inside. Are we waiting for anybody else?" He turned to the Frosts, who nodded.

"Two more in fact," They said and Alex nodded again, "You can go inside, I will wait for them here."

The Frosts headed inside, followed by the huge group. Lorna gave him a small smile before disappearing inside. Alex, Sean and Kitty turned towards the sky as they heard claps of wings, searching for the source, which was none other that Warren Worthington III.

The figure in the sky was carrying someone else, but Alex couldn't quite recognize due to the distance. As Warren came closer, Alex saw it was Elizabeth Braddock, dressed in full armor and ready for combat, _Always prepared_. He thought, amused.

The two mutants landed in front of them in a few minutes.

"You put on quite a show up there, Warren," Alex commented and the other man smiled.

"Always," He said and put a hand on his shoulder, "It's good to see you all."

"Good to see you too," Sean said and Kitty approached Warren, giving him a quick hug.

"I am not the huggable type," Betsy stated, when Kitty looked at her and the girl smiled.

"I know," Kitty laughed.

"Looking ready to kick ass, Bets," Alex noted with a smirk.

"You know me. I am always prepared," She winked and Warren rolled his eyes.

He really had missed them terribly. Soon, they would head to a facility with the intention to break out Rachel and the other hounds, steal the data and possibly destroy it. That was a triple task and was going to be hard, even with so many people, but this moment before the mission was a much awaited reunion on Alex's part and it had paid off.

"Let's go inside," Alex nudged Sean.

As much as he enjoyed this, they had a job to do. Kitty tensed, aware of the upcoming fight. Sean nodded and the group swept towards the entrance, Alex in the front, followed by Kitty, Warren and Betsy.

The others had already scattered around the room, talking. One of the triples reached them.

"We have to start discussing the plan and the blueprints," She said, moving her gaze from Alex to Warren, "Do you have them?"

"Yeah," He said and took off a the bag that was strapped to his back. Alex had noticed it just now. Warren handled it to the Frost sister, who took it and turned around, walking over to the table in the center.

Alex and the others approached and watched as the triples got the blueprints out of the bag and unfolded them over at the table with precise moves.

"We are starting," They announced, gathering everyone's attention. Now the others had positioned themselves around the table, looking at the plans.

"Before that, It is time for introductions," Alex spoke and looked around. He turned to the Mutant Underground members. "Guys, these are Warren, Elizabeth, Katherine and Sean," Alex listed, pointing at each one of them while speaking. Then he turned towards the former X-men, "These are John, Marcos, Clarice, Lauren, Tessa, Caitlin, Reed and Lorna."

With his peripheral vision he thought he saw a half smile appearing on Sean's face as Alex had introduced Lorna, but it quickly disappeared.

"Now, let's start," Alex insisted and threw a indicating glance at Warren, who cleared his throat.

"The facility is made of solid stone, much like this building here," Warren began, almost immediately, his tone serious, like he had switch to a different mode, "It has six floors over-ground and one underground," He continued, pointing at the blueprint.

More or less, Warren had changed a lot since his teenage years. The arrogant, careless playboy had disappeared, growing up to be a responsible young man, most of the time, when Scott had taken the leadership of the team. Despite that he had never lost his free spirit. Well that was until Sinister and Apocalypse had involved.

After Warren's first transformation to Archangel he had become more violent and brooding. A lot of things had happened after than and Warren had seemingly got rid of his Archangel persona, but an accident involving Rahne wrenching his wings out, had allowed him to slap between his two personas. It was a good advantage in a battle, but unpredictable and tough to control. Alex had hated to see how Warren had been struggling with this darkness inside of him.

This experience made his former student more reserved than before and had left him, trying to be at peace with himself most of the time. Alex was sure that no one could achieve that.

He didn't know what had happened to Warren and Betsy after they had parted their ways, but it seemed like they hadn't stopped fighting. He was sure none of them had.

"The hounds are kept underground and the second floor is used for autopsy... " Warren said, but was quickly cut off.

"Wait...why are they performing autopsies to mutants, if they need them for the hound program?" John inquired.

"They are inventing new ways to create hounds, the scientists need to know how mutants work for that purpose and you know the rest," Warren said, his voice completely dead.

"The other floors are basically the research parts of the facility," Betsy added and looked up at the people in front of her, "We will be divided in teams for that mission. Some of us will go and knock out the hounds, while the others will steal all the data."

"And then we will blow the whole building up," Alex finished.

A few sets of eyes shot at his direction. Some approving, some shocked.

"I don't think that would be necessary," Caitlin insisted and Alex narrowed his eyes towards her in a stern look. The woman held his gaze and didn't back down.

"It is pretty necessary, actually. That is how we will prevent the facility being used against us again," He stated and looked back at the blueprint, leaving no room for arguments.

There was nothing Caitlin Strucker could say to make him rethink that. Even if she did, which was highly unlikely, the others would agree that destroying the place would be the best option or Alex wanted to believe they would.

"The facility uses an energy generator that is kept on the first floor. I know how to overload it. It will be easy from then on," Warren said and pointed at the place where the generator was supposed to be.

"You seem to know awfully a lot about this place, Warren," Sean commented, lifting his gaze from the prints.

"It used to be owned by Worthington Industries as a research facility before 15/7," Warren replied looking down at his hands in something that looked like defeat and regret.

After the accident, he had lost his company as the board had a problem with a mutant CEO, after the big backlash. Alex had remembered how angry Warren had been then. Losing his father's legacy was a big blow to him.

"What is the attack plan?" Lorna stepped in, looking at the faces of the people around her and eventually setting her eyes on Psylocke, directing the question toward her.

"As I said, teams. Team Alpha will take care of the hounds, while the other teams will scatter in the other floors to gather the data and keep the Sentinel Service agents busy," Psylocke explained, authority ringing in her voice.

"I suggest to enter from multiple sides. From the roof, the back, the front. That will leave then surprised and unable to react quickly enough," Alex added, crossing his hands over his chest.

"We should keep Sage outside with Reed and Caitlin. She can hack into the cameras and help us from the outside and we can transfer the information from their computers to her," John said and Warren nodded approvingly.

"Okay then," He turned to the Frosts," I believe you have the equipment for that," It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Before they could answer, Esme's phone went off ringing. She quickly picked up and took a few steps away from the crowded table, without another word. Sophie and Phoebe's eyes shone for a couple of seconds a few times. They were talking telepathically.

Kitty moved closer to him. "Should we guess who is calling?" She asked with a familiar frown.

"I just hope there isn't a problem," Alex said, feeling himself tense a little. Emma wouldn't call just to check up on them. She believed in her girls enough to let them handle the situation alone. No, it had to be something else and that send shivers up Alex's back. No mistakes could be afforded.

"Why is Emma not here to help anyway?" Sean joined the conversation. "I mean don't get me wrong four telepaths are enough, but Emma is like a tank in her diamond form. We could have used her."

Alex shrugged in lack of knowledge. "Emma never mentioned, she would be here anyways."

"Yeah, because she probably has so much important stuff to attend to, instead of helping us out," Kitty scoffed, irritated. Alex didn't say anything to acknowledge Kitty's words. It wasn't the time to enter in an argument about Emma's usefulness and motivations.

"Kitty, Emma helped us find Rachel and she will be the head of her recovery. Give her some credit," Sean nudged her side and she shook her head in denial.

Esme approached again, a look of mild annoyance on her face. "The hounds from the facility will be shipped to Atlanta tomorrow. Apparently, the security will be double for the transfer, which means we have only one shot tonight," She informed them with the usual calm manner.

"Dammit," Alex muttered and looked back at the blueprint, "We should get to work fast. If we miss this chance... " He trailed off, unable to finish his thought.

Betsy put a hand on his shoulder. "We won't miss the chance. We are getting Rachel and the others out of there tonight and if we have to go through every Sentinel Service agent to do it, so be it," She raised her chin up, speaking determined, like the true warrior she was. That was Elizabeth Braddock after all.

"Then, let's do this," Alex ordered and nodded gratefully at Betsy, "John, I want you to lead team Beta. You will take the first and second floors and take the autopsy reports," He said and John nodded, "Take Marcos and Phoebe with you."

"Me and Psylocke will take the sixth and fifth floors and get in through the roof," Warren stated.

"As much as I would love to do that with you, I will be needed on the underground level," Betsy said and gave him an apologetic look.

The two fell silent as they were communication without words, just with thoughts.

"Warren, you can take Esme with you and lead team Omega," Alex dictated and Warren looked at him with irritation.

The Archangel was hard to control, a reason Warren needed Psylocke to be with him. Unfortunately, Betsy was needed down with Alex. The hounds were going to be tough opponents, especially Rachel. A strong physic was needed, so Alex was taking Psylocke with him. The Frosts were going to split up, so there could be at least one telepath in a team.

"Kitty," Alex turned to her, "You will lead team Gamma, it's you and Sophie. Floor 4 is yours for the taking," A flash of dissatisfaction shone is her eyes, but Alex held her gaze.

At last, he turned to Sean, "You will take Lauren and secure the third floor."

"As you say," His friend nodded.

"I will take Psylocke, Lorna and Clarice to the underground level. We will take out the hounds and transport them out of there. Reed, Caitlin and Sage will be outside in one of the escape cars and observe everything. Is it all clear?" He asked and one by one the people in the room nodded.

"Good. Warren, the strategy please," Alex said and Angel stepped in again.

"First, teams Delta, Gamma and Beta will enter from the front with a direct confrontation and try to bring the attention of the agents to themselves. Then, team Alpha will attack from the back, stealthily. Team Omega will enter through the roof after all the others are inside," Warren placed some pawns at the entering points, "Every team's task, besides Alpha, is to transfer all the data to Sage and then destroy it. Holding agents off is a huge priority. We can't let to many of them to be sent to the underground level. We will also have to take as much as we can out before we blow the place up. This is all. We will move at 20:00 p.m. If you have questions, you can go to the leaders of your team," He finished and murmur spread around the room.

Warren quickly pulled Betsy away and they started talking in hushed voices.

On the other side, Kitty nudged Alex in the stomach, "Why Sophie?" She asked crossing her hands over her chest, "You know what my relationship with Emma is, it probably won't be much different with her daughters."

"But you have worked with Emma before," Alex stated.

"Yes, but I want to be down there and help with Rachel," Kitty argued back and Alex realized what the real problem was. It wasn't Sophie, it was Rachel.

"Kitty, I assembled the teams with everyone's powers, weaknesses and strengths on my mind. I believe this Alpha team will have the best chance at saving the hounds, Rachel included. You have to trust me," He explained, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder and at last, Kitty nodded hesitantly. She still didn't like it, but at least was convinced it will work. That was enough for Alex.

* * *

Warren approached Esme, who was standing next to her sisters, talking about something.

"Esme, can we talk for a minute?" He asked, his voice steady.

If he was going to be partners with her for the mission, he had to be sure she would shut him down, when needed to. Betsy had helped him with all she could to control the Archangel, but it was still hard, even after so many telepathic sessions with her. There was a high chance that he could lose control in a fight. He couldn't afford losing himself in the death once again.

"Of course," Esme said and waved her sister off. One of them rolled her eyes, before heading away, "What do you need?" She asked with a cold smile.

It was like he was talking to Emma. The voice, the looks, the whole manner she spoke with, reminded him of the White Queen.

Honestly, Warren was genuinely surprised when Betsy said that Emma Frost had found a way to contact her. They were both in Minnesota at this time, helping mutants across the border and attacking near Sentinel Services operational facilities.

Emma had reached them about Alex's decision to help Rachel. She had explained the hound situation to them quickly. Before, Warren had heard about rumors of a doctor, who was brainwashing mutants to working for him, but didn't know if it was true. Unfortunately, it was and it made him feel sick to the stomach.

"We will work together for this operation, so I want to know if I can trust you to shut me down... if I get out of control," He said, looking her in the eye.

"How I am going to find out when you are not in control?" She asked with an raised eyebrow.

"When I try to kill everyone, including you," Warren said, his tone dead serious.

"You have it then," Esme stated, with her usual calm voice and Warren nodded, slowly backing away.

"Well?" Betsy, who was leaning against the wall, asked.

"I clarified it with her," Warren said, approaching her.

"Good," She said with a small smile.

"I just don't want it to happen again, you know," He said looking down.

On one of their vigilante operations, he had slipped while in the Archangel form. A lot of agents had paid with their lives that day. The memories still haunted Warren and reminded him of how slim the border line was. Since then, he and Betsy had started sessions twice a day, but he still felt insecure and dependent on her. He had to be at peace all the time, not letting himself to relax. It was hard, but Warren had a lot of blood on his hands and didn't intend to add more.

"It won't. I am sure of that," Betsy said, putting a hand on his shoulder for assurance.

"Thanks Bets. Now let's go to the others. Sean said it was time for catching up before our possible death," He laughed.

"How optimistic," Elizabeth replied and followed him to the coach, who was placed in the living room. The building looked more like a home that a Hellfire club house, but the club had always liked luxury.

* * *

Alex was sitting on the coach in the supposed living room. For an abandoned base, there was fair amount of furniture. Sean was sitting across him and Kitty next to him. Lorna had positioned herself by his left side, which got him a few amused expressions and Warren and Betsy took seats in the middle. On the other couches the others were sitting, talking among themselves as well.

After the meeting, Alex had pulled Sean aside to talk and finally ask him why the hell he was smirking every time, when Lorna was around. It became frustrating.

"Okay, you are either going a new level of crazy or you want to annoy me. Which one is it?" Alex asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No idea what you are talking about," Sean smiled innocently

"Cut the bullshit"

"Okay, okay. So this is the infamous Lorna," Sean remarked, a half smile appearing on his face

Alex finally realized why Sean has been so weird. After he had woke up from the coma, caused by the explosion of the building, he had told Hank and Sean about Lorna and why he was so eager to get up faster and recover.

"Yes, this is Lorna," Alex sighed.

"Your paths crossed again after all. I think one handsome ginger told you that it would happen," Sean rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as if he was trying to remember the person, who had said it, even if Sean knew it was he himself.

"Yeah, yeah. I remember that idiot. At least he gave me good advice," Alex played along.

"Hey!" Sean exclaimed and they both laughed, "So, you and her?" He asked after the joke died down.

"Nah, she has a boyfriend...and is pregnant," Alex said, stumbling on the last part. Sean's eyes widened and then filled with sympathy.

"I am sorry man," He replied.

"Don't worry about me. I am over it," Alex lied and waved his hand dismissively, which didn't seem to fully convince his friend. "Come on, let's go and do the reunion with stories you were talking about," He added with a smile and Sean's features lightened as the two made their way towards the nearest coach.

He had suggested to do that as a way to remember the good old times. Alex couldn't say that he didn't want that, it was actually the opposite, he wished to recall the time when everything was simpler. On the other hand, he knew it would be painful to delve into the past. After all, most of the people they would talk about were six feet into the ground.

Now, Sean was telling everyone who listened a story with a lot of gesturing. Nevertheless, Alex was nothing but amused by his friend.

"And we are like super serious, waiting for the supposed Brotherhood attack, hiding behind the building," Sean stated, throwing his hands in the air. "Then all of a sudden Ororo tripped and fell face flat on the ground. Alex tried to quickly pull her up before anyone saw us, but it was too late. The guards headed towards us and I told Kurt to get us the hell out of there. Once we were at the top of a near building, Ororo turned to Warren and accused him for her fall, because apparently she tripped on his wings," Sean said and Warren smiled.

"And at the end it appeared that she tripped on Kurt's tail," Warren finished. "Alex was so pissed that at the end he didn't give a damn what have happened and made us complete two simulations in the Danger Room without a break. I haven't slept better in my life after that."

The mood was light, carefree like it once was. Well, they had never been completely careless, but there had been days when they had just chilled and talked about little things in the mansion. For a second, he found himself in Xavier's Institute again. He wanted this moment to never be over.

"Sean, do you remember our first encounter with the Marauders when were 18?" Alex asked suddenly with a smile.

His friend looked at him confused. "I remember it wasn't very fun," Sean frowned in thought.

"So we were trying to get to a newly manifested mutant that Sinister was interested in and we were sure he would try to get to the girl before us," Alex started the story, "We found the kid in the park and as it was night, outside was dark, only a little light was shredded by a few street lamps. We started talking to her, it all went smoothly and suddenly Sean just pointed into the distance and said there was something there."

"Oh no, don't start with that," Sean groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Wait wait, what happened?" Kitty asked, obviously intrigued. Alex was surprised she hadn't heard the story. After all, he loved telling it to everyone who had ears.

"A figure stepped forward and Sean just jumped back with the girliest shriek I have ever heard. I am sure he peed himself then. The figure was actually an old lady going home through the park," Alex finished and Kitty's body shook with laughter.

Sean looked up and raised his hand in the air. "Liar! I didn't pеe myself," He exclaimed and a few of the other mutants looked at him, amused, "Stop spreading lies about me."

Alex saw Lorna giggling with his peripheral vision and grinned as well.

"The X-men sound like a mature and organized group of heroes," Clarice said sarcastically, as she passed by, but Alex saw the faint smile on her face.

She threw herself over the back of the coach and landed on the spot next to Lorna. "Come on, make me laugh," Her smile grew bigger and she leaned back.

Warren's face lightened up and he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "So, the younger X-men had a simulation training to fly the jet. Before the session started we all agreed to crash the jet every time, to see who from the older X-men will snap first."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Alex exclaimed laughing.

Warren shook his head. "Nope. Everyone betted on you, except Ororo, who wanted to risk and betted on Sean."

"Ororo betted that I would snap first during a training session?" Sean asked, leaning back with an amused smile on his face. "She hasn't just took a risk, she has lost that bet before it has even began."

"Oh yeah, and Rahne betted on Hank," Warren remembered.

The name rang in Alex's head like a bell. It was different, when it was said out loud. For the last years, Alex had just thought about his friend and never spoke his name, mainly because the thought of saying it hurted him. The last time Alex had heard Hank's name said out loud was when he and Sean had begged him to stand up and continue walking. A numb pain appeared in his chest like earlier when he had seen Kitty. This time he found himself exactly where he was: in a Hellfire club base surrounded by the remaining X-men, grabbing a few good moments from the past.

Sean looked at him and smiled sadly, noticing his pained expression. Alex returned the smile. They both missed Hank.

"When we crashed the Blackbird one after the other, Alex screamed at us to get our shit together and me, Scott, Jean and Kurt won," Warren remarked, a hint of pride in his voice.

 _Scott_

The second name smashed against his mind. As with Hank, it felt unreal said out loud. It was like speaking with an unused for a long time voice. The pain in his chest grew stronger and he found himself moving his hand towards it.

 _Scott, Hank, Jean, Ororo, Kurt_

More and more names started to ring in his head in a monotonous chant.

The chanting sounded unrelieved and it started to become more unbearable with every second. The air suddenly became thicker and Alex felt himself unable to breath, as if the atmosphere was trying to choke the life out of him.

Memories of a little brown-haired boy fled in his mind, overwhelming it. Face after face appeared and disintegrated in front of his eyes. _Dead, dead, dead._ Why was this happening now? **What** was happening now?

 _Charles, Rahne, Piotr, Moira, Bobby_

A new wave of memories, faces and familiar voices, he had feared were forgotten, came to the surface of his mind and tried to drown him. It was like he was in a stormy ocean, waves surrounding him from every side, tossing him in different directions. Everything was happening so fast, that it left Alex confused and unable to react properly.

 _"You always have to be the better person, Alex, that divides us from our enemies."_

 _"I know you can make it."_

 _"This isn't you."_

 _"What if I screw up?"_

 _"The only way I fall is fighting."_

 _"You have to keep fighting."_

The chanting became louder and louder and Alex felt the urge to cover his ears, even if it wouldn't help. He struggled to breath, but his chest tightened more and more. Hot chills crawled on his back and a faint red glow surrounded his hands. What the hell was wrong with him? He was losing control, surrounded by people. His biggest nightmare was coming true.

Alex stood up frantically, barely aware of his surroundings and quickly fled to the other room, leaving everyone staring after him. Slamming the door, he fell to his knees, forcing himself to breath, but failing to do so.

 _Not now, not now_

His thoughts were swirling around in his head and he couldn't focus, losing himself in the blur of his own mind. The red glow increased and soon consumed his hands, leaving burned marks on the floor. There was a burning sensation in his chest as well, which was either supposed to be power arising or something completely different.

The pain wasn't numb anymore. Now, it felt like millions of little needles were stabbing him. He tried to take a deep breath, this time unsuccessful as well.

Was he dying? Is that how it felt? He wasn't supposed to go like that: so helpless, his own body and mind betraying him like this. What if, this was exactly how he was supposed to go? Maybe if he just let go and stop trying.

Alex heard the door slam open, but couldn't see who it was. His focus was slipping, and his whole body felt hot, like it was burning. Wherever he looked, he saw red.

"Alex, we need you to focus okay," A voice, that he couldn't recognize, said, but sound came out muted.

"Take a deep breath," Another voice ordered. He wanted to tell them to stop, to shut them all up, but couldn't find his own voice. Panic. The last sane part of his mind was slipping away and everything was mixing together. Emotions, voices, present and past events. At the end Alex didn't know how he felt or who was there with him. Everything around him was just a damn blurry picture.

* * *

Lorna stood in the room, her hands clenched into fists next to her body. Sean was kneeling next to Alex, telling him to calm down, but nothing seemed to help. Everything was pointing to a panic attack, but what had triggered it so suddenly.

Warren, Kitty and Betsy were in the room with her, while the others watched from the door. Lorna had told them to stay outside, so the room doesn't overcrowd with people.

"That's it, I am going to reach him," Elizabeth said and tapped the left side of her head. A purple butterfly from pure psionic energy manifested and covered her eyes like a mask.

The action made Sean stand up sharply and turn to face her. "His mind is too blurry now, you will screw him up even more. We don't know what can happen," He said obviously panicked from his friend's condition.

"Sean, I will calm his mind, that's all," Elizabeth stated, ready to shove him out of the way.

"I already told you-"

Lorna ignored the two and fixed her attention at Alex. An idea clicked in her head and she quickly swept to the door and searched the group for Caitlin. As soon as she spotted her concerned face among the others, Lorna pulled her in the room. The woman gave her a shocked look.

"How can we stop a panic attack?" She asked, keeping herself calm and her voce steady.

"He has to take a deep breath, hold it and focus on something," Caitlin said, the primary shock from Lorna's harsh pull now gone. She nodded and turned toward Alex, determined to help him.

Before she could reach him, a figure from behind her, put a hand on her shoulder. Lorna turned back and found herself staring at Marcos's deep brown eyes.

"Lorna, his powers are out of control. You will get burned, or worse," Marcos pleaded with eyes full of concern.

She almost couldn't believe him. It wasn't about her, it was about Alex, who needed help and not only that. The whole building could be destroyed if his powers burst out with full force. Lorna brushed of his hand from her shoulder and turned back without a word.

"Lorna!" Marcos pleaded again and she glanced back over her shoulder.

"It will be okay," She assured him and hurried to Alex's side, kneeling next to him. The air around was heated and she had to narrow her eyes, because of the sudden change.

" You need to focus on my voice Al. Focus on me and only me. Everything will be alright I promise," Lorna steadied her voice, but it cracked at the end. The woman cleared her throat and took a deep breath, "Look at me," She grabbed his chin with her hand, jerking his head, so he could meet her eyes. Fortunately, only the lower part of his body was wrapped in red energy like a shield, but it was creeping upwards. The blue eyes that she saw were full of fright and confusion. Lorna held his gaze and remembered Caitlin's words.

 _"He has to take a deep breath and hold it."_

The next came to her instinctively. She smashed her lips against his, feeling heat pouring into her. Lorna didn't pull back, even when the temperature raised. Under her touch Alex stiffened, but she didn't stop. Lorna was giving him something to focus on and making him hold his breath at the same time.

* * *

The pressure of Lorna's lips against his came so sudden, he couldn't even react. Little by little, the ocean of voices died down and only one was left, telling him to focus. His mind started clearing and the blur washed away. Alex felt the heat decreasing and he didn't see red anymore. The sight of Lorna cleared before his eyes.

A moment later, she slowly pulled away and he met her eyes full of worry, but also something else, something unreadable. She smiled with what looked like relieve. What exactly had happened? A minute ago he felt like he was dying and now he was staring at Lorna, who had kissed him. Alex tried to get up, but felt dizzy and quickly gave up on that, remaining on his knees.

From his right side Sean kneeled next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Alex. You had a panic attack, but it's all gone now, thanks to Lorna," He nodded in her direction and Alex noticed a small smirk in the corner of his mouth. "Let me help you," Sean suggested and Alex left him to help him to his feet.

Everything felt so unnatural and his own exhaustion was creeping from the corners of his mind, slowly taking over. He felt numb and zoned out, like reality had turned into a dream.

Warred came to his other side, helping Sean. When the three of them reached the door, the crowd split in two, letting them pass. Most of them had concerned looks, while others looked relieved that whatever happened was over.

 _Panic Attack._ That's what Sean said had happened. Alex had never experienced anything like this before. He hadn't had one when his parents had died, after the 15/7, the attack of the mansion and then his Underground cell. Why now? Did everything came too much? How could something like this happen so soon before the mission? He had to be focused on Rachel and only Rachel. Instead he hadn't. Now his mind was occupied with fear of a second panic attack. Alex didn't want to feel anything like this again.

With the help of Sean and Warren, they entered one of the bedrooms that the Frosts had assigned for them and closed the door. Alex sat on the bed and lied down, taking a deep breath. He feared that his lungs might tighten again.

"How are you feeling?" Warren asked, a reminder of a recent worry, still noticeable in his voice.

"I am fine," Alex brushed it off, almost automatically and took another deep breath, closing his eyes.

"This time you are not coming off with one 'I am fine' like you usually do," Sean rebuked and sat next to him, "Really, how are you?"

Alex shook his head and looked at his hands with a deep sigh of defeat. "Why did this happen?" He asked looking at Sean and then Warren with a small feeling of despair.

"I don't know, Alex, I just don't know," Sean shook his head as well.

"Did something feel off before it started?" Warren asked.

"I think...when Hank and Scott were mentioned...It set me off, then I started remembering everyone...and then I couldn't breathe and my heart started to beat faster, like it was about to explode," Alex stammered, remembering the details.

Thinking about it was so weird, like it was some distant, fading memory . In other words, the images came to him in a blur, but how he felt during the panic attack...that he could never forget. Alex remembered the burning feeling in his chest, the rapid beating of his heart and his desperate attempts to breathр as well as his powers raising, threatening to wreak havoc everywhere. Then, everything stopped and he found himself gazing into a pair of piercing green eyes.

Once again, he felt like the teenager without control he was before. How could he have slipped like that? What if Lorna didn't stop the attack? He could have killed her with his powers. Alex quickly drew the line and stopped himself from going there.

"I think you should rest for now," Sean concluded and glanced at Warren, who nodded once in understanding.

Alex heard the door open and shut again, leaving only him and Sean in the room. The way he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, connoted that he was about to speak again.

"You are stressing over the rescue mission, aren't you?" Sean asked, even if he meant it like a statement.

"I am ready for it Sean," Alex assured him. The truth was that he thought he was ready, however the panic attack messed with him in the worst time possible.

"Hank, Scott and the others have been dead from a long time. In that case, you should have had a dozen more of those panic attacks before. There is something else," Sean insisted and Alex just wished he could stop talking about it. He knew what the factors could be. The damn nightmare for example.

The really weird part was that he haven't dreamt about it once since it had happened. That was the first time in so long. At last, he decided to just tell Sean. Alex knew better than to believe that he will drop the matter soon.

"Last night I had a nightmare. I dreamt of the day Hank died and Rachel was taken," Alex brought himself to a sitting position and leaned forward. "It felt so real, like I was there again. I guess I am afraid she would end up like Hank," He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Sean sat next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "She won't. We will make sure of that. I promise," He asserted.

"You can't promise things, you don't control," Alex shook his head.

"No, but there is no one more reliable to lead this mission. I believe in you," His friend patted him on the shoulder and stood up, heading towards the door. Sean glanced past his shoulder, "Now rest for a while. You will need it."

With this words he left the room, closing the door behind him.

It was true. They couldn't promise things they couldn't control. All they could was give their best and achieve their goals. No promises, no assurances. Sean believed in him, but even that wouldn't matter if Alex didn't believe in himself to do that. He was sure now. He would do everything he could to save Rachel. No damn panic attacks could stop him.

The door didn't remain closed for long as Lorna entered. The strenuous features of her face relaxed, as soon as she laid her eyes on him.

"Hey," Alex greeted with a smile. He knew why she was here.

"Are you okay?" She moved to the bed, sitting next to him.

"I am better now," He said and glanced at her, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem" Lorna replied, "I just did what I thought I had to do."

A few seconds of awkward silence spread upon them as neither knew how to continue the conversation. Well, Alex knew, but wasn't sure how to start talking about the kiss. He wanted to, but it was pointless. Lorna said that she had done what she had to do. It didn't mean anything.

"I am sorry about the kiss."

The words came out so sudden that Alex wasn't sure if he had heard right. He looked at her, confused.

"Did you just said that you are sorry about the kiss? Or maybe I need an ear doctor," He asked.

"You heard right," Lorna replied. It looked like the corners of her lips started turning up, but she stopped herself, keeping a straight face. He got the message, no time for jokes.

"I don't see why you should apologize," Alex said with a raised eyebrow.

"I know how you feel about me. When I kissed you it was like I was playing with these feelings, but that wasn't my intention. I thought that this will make you focus on something," She said and glanced at him. Her face was hard to read at that moment, but she was slightly tugging her ear, a sign of discomfort.

"I understand why you did it," Alex stated, "But I don't understand why we are leading this conversation, if it makes you uncomfortable."

"I didn't want you to be angry, if you get the idea that I am using you," She explained and sighed, "This is so hard."

"And awkward," Alex added and they both laughed, "It wouldn't even cross my mind that you are using me," He continued, "I know you."

"But we have both changed, haven't we?"

"Yeah, we have," Alex agreed. Both of them have been through so much, their experiences shaping them in the people they were now. Some of it was bad, some of it good, but all was a crucial part of them. He couldn't lie and say he didn't miss the old times. Before the explosion, before 15/7. It was him and Lorna back them, living happily together. At that time, the X-men had been disbanded and that was the only flaw.

"I remember how we played hide and seek in the school yard?" Lorna asked, smiling at the memory.

"How can I forget? You were always climbing on the highest trees and I couldn't find you," Alex smiled as well.

"Maybe, because you were too afraid to climb up and search," Lorna noted with a teasing grin on her face.

"I admit I wasn't the biggest fan of heights," Alex replied, "Well, I could climb up, but not down."

"Like that time, when you were stuck and I had to guide you down," Lorna reminded him.

Alex shook his head, but his smile remained intact on his face. " Yeah, it was embarrassing," He recently noticed that he smiled mostly when he was talking to Lorna. Certainly, the same could be said about her.

Being around her just made him forget how difficult everything was. It helped him feel calm and enjoy their time together, which wasn't much as a result of the busy weeks that have been the past few.

Alex was perfectly aware that he loved Lorna and she knew that as well. He wasn't sure if she felt anything more than the usual friendly love toward him. However, none of that mattered, because she had a boyfriend and was pregnant with his child.

As much as Alex tried to not let himself get jealous, he couldn't stop it completely. He was human after all. As long as Lorna was happy with Marcos, he would be happy as well. His first priority toward her was her happiness and safety, furthermore her unborn child's.

"You look lost in thought," Lorna commented after the silence stretched out, "Let me guess... Rachel," Her voice softened, as well as the look in her eyes, but the smile on her face disappeared.

Alex faced her, examining the features of her face. The speed, with which he managed to screw up the peaceful moment between them was uncanny. He would have congratulate himself, if it wouldn't have looked ridiculous, because of Lorna's presence in the room.

He smiled and shook his head. "No, I guess I just zoned out for a second. I am fine."

"You have been lying about this the whole day," Lorna sighed and ran a hand through her hair, frustrated, "Is it so damn hard to talk to me?" She asked, with an angry undertone in her voice.

"Lorna, I am fine," He repeated, emphasizing his words. He couldn't tell her what he was thinking about.

She studied his face for a few moments and looked away with a sigh. "We have talked about this," She said, "You can't keep it all inside. You saw the result, we all have."

"You are right," Alex cleared his throat, "He have talked about this already."

Everyone kept telling him the same thing over and over again and it really started to get on his nerves. Yeah, Lorna cared and wanted to know if he was okay, but in this situation the only one who could deal with him was him. Usually, when he said he was okay she believed him and left him. That is something he appreciated: the trust.

"Alex, you can't cut me out like this. I am your friend," Lorna's voice sounded like a plea and he shook his head. Fine, if she wanted to know it was her choice.

"You really want to know?" He asked, not expecting an answer, "I am thinking how much I love you and how I will be happy as long as Marcos makes you happy, even if it hurts," Alex didn't even realize he had stood up. The words came out louder than he meant and his voice was on the edge of breaking.

Lorna's eyes widened and her eyebrows raised, she probably didn't expect that.

"Are you happy now?" He asked, this time his voice lower. "It isn't hard to talk to you...it's the contrary in fact," He stumbled upon his words. Maybe it would be better if he just left the room, but something was keeping him in his place. It was the desperate need to tell her what he was feeling. To get it off his chest. He had already started, so why not finish it, "I just... am so in love with you. Letting you go was the hardest thing I had to do and the funny part is... that I still can't."

"Alex, I..." Lorna started, but trailed of. She opened her mouth again as she stood up, but Alex cut her out.

"Save it," He raised his hand to put distance between them and shook his head, "Don't make it worse. I shouldn't have said anything."

Lorna sucked her teeth and breathed out. Her eyes were glassy and Alex could read...sympathy...no... pity in them. He felt his muscles quivering under his skin.

"Don't look at me like that," Alex's voice was almost a hiss by now, "Just leave," He continued, his tone softening, "Please."

* * *

Lorna took a few steps toward him, but he didn't put his hand down. "I am sorry," She uttered. Alex looked desperate and she couldn't help but feel terrible. It wasn't her fault, neither Alex or Marcos's and she was perfectly aware of that, but the feeling was still eating her.

Similar desperation was growing inside her as well. Lorna loved Marcos, but in the past few weeks she felt her old attraction to Alex rebuilding itself, leaving her confused about her own feelings. So, what was that kiss? Was it really the only way to help Alex or her own subconscious wishes reflecting in her actions. After the noise around the situation had died down Marcos had asked her about it and she had just shrugged at him.

"It was the only way to make him focus on something and hold his breath." She stated, trying to process it as well.

Marcos nodded, but on the look on his face Lorna could tell he wasn't convinced, as if he was really thinking: _Sure and him being your old boyfriend didn't play any part in this._ "Yeah, I guess you are right," He finally said.

She had just moved away from Marcos then. Lorna hadn't been in the mood for more questions. That's when she had decided to see how was Alex doing.

"I shouldn't have pressed you into telling me," She continued, "And I am sorry that I make you feel that way," His expression was tormented, his features tense and his recently joyful blue eyes, full of sorrow. She really shouldn't have pressed him like that. She should have just continued the conversation about the trees, but his reticence hurt her. They had always shared with each other, but now something was different.

He hadn't said anything about the nightmare he had the previous night either. When she had asked him to talk about it, he flatly cut her off and left. That action didn't hurt her as much as she had expected. They were in hurry to go and explaining his attitude had been easy. However, she expected they would talk about it later. But that never happened, so she assumed he needed space. She had given him space.

He slowly put his hand down and Lorna wondered if he even realized he had done it. Alex looked so miserable at that moment. It made her heart ache. Lorna wanted to take way some of his pain and unburden him.

It was too late, when she realized what she had done. Lorna quickly broke the distance between them. Wrapping her hands around his neck and tilting her head to one side, she kissed him deeply.

He returned the kiss with the same passion. Here they were, two broken people in a broken world, sharing each other's pain. All she could feel was his warmth and his scent. Lorna let herself get carried away with it. His lips were warm and comforting, even if half of them were burned away and felt rough against her own.

The realization struck her like a lightning from a clear sky. Lorna quickly pulled away, shell shocked. What the hell had she just done? _Oh my God, this wasn't supposed to happen._ Her thoughts circled in her head like a swarm of bees - fast and frantic.

"I am so sorry," She heard Alex say. Lorna looked up and faced his shocked expression. He wasn't expecting the kiss either.

Polaris didn't reply. Instead, she ran to the door, open it and with quick steps got out and continued walking away.

"Lorna!"

A few quick times, Lorna looked over her shoulder to see if Alex had followed her. Fortunately for her, he hadn't. Even in this situation she couldn't help, but smile. He understood that she needed space. He had always understood.

She didn't stop walking even when his room faded from her sight. One last look over her shoulder made sure of that, but she kept going on. Lorna turned her head forward, just in time to bump into Clarice. She almost fell down from the impact, but managed to keep her balance.

"Are you okay?" Clarice asked

"Yeah, I am fine," Lorna adjusted her jacket and gave her a apologetic smile, "Sorry about that. I didn't see you."

"It looked like you were in a hurry," She raised her eyebrows, but Lorna waved dismissively.

"Actually, do you know when we are leaving," She asked, managing to quickly change the subject.

"Johnny said in an hour," Clarice replied and Lorna nodded.

"Thanks," Before Clarice could ask her any more question, she quickly went past her and into her room.

She sat on the bed and buried her face in her hands. Why did she let this happen? Lorna felt more confused than ever. The kiss proved her old attraction to Alex was very much alive and now trying to ruin everything with both him and Marcos. She was pregnant with the latter's child for God's sake. She could have been more in control of her emotions. Lorna toyed with the idea, that maybe she had a bipolar episode. However, she knew that wasn't likely. It didn't feel like one.

Then that meant only one thing. She had wanted to kiss him, even if she hadn't realized what she had been doing at that moment. Her own subconscious had led her to this. The important question was, if she still loved Alex. Lorna was afraid that if the answer was 'yes' she wouldn't know what to do. On one hand there was Marcos, who she loved passionately and was the father of her baby. On the other hand was Alex, her childhood best friend and later he lover, who she thought she had lost in a terrible accident. _It's simple. Do you love Alex or not?_ She thought, but even if it seemed simple, Lorna couldn't answer that question.

 _Focus on the mission._ Lorna thought and lifted her head up. She would figure it all out after the operation. Her love life wasn't a priority right now. With her head clear from distracting thoughts, she swept towards the door and went out.

Later that evening, everyone was gathered in the same room that had been used for the briefing earlier. It was time to leave. Lorna was standing next to Clarice, along with the rest of her team.

"Okay, we have only one shot with this," Alex spoke up, gathering everyone's attention, "I need you all focused on our goal, no distractions, no side thoughts. Tonight we fight to save fellow mutants. We can't afford to lose. I want you to do whatever you have to, to succeed. Am I clear?" A group 'yes' was heard and Alex nodded approvingly, "Let's go and kick their asses."

When they got out of the building, she felt the chilly night wind against her skin. On the parking lot, there was one more car parked than it was when they had arrived. Lorna observed, as the teams distributed in different vehicles. She entered in the black car with Clarice, Elizabeth and Alex as the driver.

The vehicles left the parking lot in a row, fusing with the darkness. No one would see them coming. Lorna breathed in, feeling all the metal around her. She knew she was ready. As Alex said: _Let's kick their asses._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey,hey,hey! Guess who's back?! I want to apologize for the one month delay of the chapter. The main reason is school. However, I made this one super long...its 10000 words. There isn't much action, but instead a lot of character interactions, mainly Alex and Lorna. Things are getting dramatic on their end. For the scene with the panic attack I made a lot of research, as I myself, haven't experienced something like that, but wanted to write the scene to show how vulnerable Alex's psyche has become over all of this years. If something is not accurate, I want you to know that I don't mean to offend anyone.**

 **What do you think will happen? Would they save Rachel or something go terribly wrong? Review, subscribe and etc.**

 **See you soon!(If I manage to write a chapter)**


	11. Chapter 11

Alex's hands were clenched around the leather wheel of the car, his fingers taping on it. The black vehicle was parked distantly from the facility, impossible to be seen from the security. A thick blanket of silence covered everything and for long the only sound in the car was the heavy breathing of his teammates. The atmosphere felt tense as they were waiting for the sound of battle. That was supposed to be their cue to sneak in.

Stealth attack wasn't on his list of top 10 best skills, but he wasn't terrible at it either. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his powers were rather loud and destructive. When he was a teen it had been even harder to keep them in check during a stealth operation. Now he was more experienced and didn't need Hank's 'energy diaper'.

The adrenaline was pumping under his skin in rhythm with his beating heart. He slid a quick glance to the review mirror and caught the other's expressions. Psylocke was concentrated and looked ready to jump out of the car any second, Lorna's eyes were full of cold determination and Clarice seemed impatient and for a second, a shade of worry passed over face her features tense in the moonlight.

"Do you think something went wrong?" She asked suddenly, "We have been waiting for long."

"If something went wrong we would have been informed," Betsy said, tapping the side of her head.

"They just need the perfect time to strike," Alex said and looked out of the windshield again. Surprisingly, he felt good. It was like he had been in this car, going trough this operation's routine millions of times.

That was what he counted on. When the time came, he had known what he had to do and his body was acting subconsciously even if he had been nervous beforehand. It had known when to move, when to strike or hold back, all thanks to the training in the Danger Room.

He had feared he had gotten rusty, but Alex still felt the familiar calm wave, washing over him, leaving his instincts sharp and his mind prepared for everything.

Marks from the panic attack were still there, but fading. The feeling of being spaced out started to disappear, just a small portion left. The ride to the facility definitely helped. Lorna had offered a couple of times to replace him as the driver, but he refused. Doing something distracted him and helped him brush off the effects.

The building wasn't completely covered in darkness. However the muted light spread by the lamps wasn't enough for all the details to be seen. Only a few guards on the left, but he was sure this wasn't all of them. It was fortunate that he didn't need to see the backdoor to know where it is. Alex had made sure to learn its position from Warren's blueprints, just to be prepared.

Suddenly, the loud noise of fighting and shooting tore him from his thoughts. _'Time for action.'_ He turned to his teammates, "You know what to do," They nodded and the group all got out of the car. Team Alpha crept towards the facility as fast and quiet as they could.

The battle from the other side was covering their entrance and the darkness was sheltering them. Every guard on their way was quickly put to sleep by Psylocke.

Everything was executed smoothly. Halfway, they stopped and Alex turned to Lorna.

 _'Do your thing,'_ He thought, the words reaching Polaris trough the psychic rapport that Betsy had established way back during the ride.

Lorna nodded and stepped ahead, green glow radiating from her hands. An electrical wave was emitted destroying all cameras with the ability to detect them, as well as the lamps.

The team continued ahead without letting anything stop them. The sounds of battle on the other side became faint by the time they reached the entrance.

"Delta, Gamma and Beta are in, it's our turn," Psylocke informed them.

Havok stepped away to grant Polaris the space she needed to open the metal doors. The others prepared to attack whoever may be on the other side. Most of the guards were supposed to be either outside, on the other half of the first floor, from where they couldn't spot them, or holding their positions on the upper floors. Of course, the option some of them to have stayed behind wasn't completely crossed out of the list.

The coast was clear and one by one they made their way inside with Lorna being last. No guards could be seen in either direction and Havok motioned to them to move ahead. The staircase, that would lead them to the underground floor, was on the second left turn in the hallway.

Carefully and pressed to the left side of the white wall, Havok and the team continued. When they reached the first turn, Alex peaked out of the corner as Clarice did the same in the other direction.

She quickly pulled back and motioned to Psylocke to do the same with Alex before they could see him. _'There are two coming from the right corner,'_ Clarice thought.

 _'I will take care of them,'_ Psylocke thought back and a purple butterfly appeared over her face. In an instant a hard 'tump' came from the right. Clarice peeked again, her lips curving into an impressed half-smile, when she saw the guards on the ground, loudly snoring.

"Let's go. We are almost there," Betsy urged and they moved ahead.

In a minute they turned left again and faced a big door with an electronic lock. Lorna streched out her hand to rip the door open, but didn't get the chance.

"Get on the ground muties!" A disembodied voice came from behind them.

"I told you there will be more here," Another voice said.

Havok nodded at his teammates and they slowly turned around. The guards had pointed their guns towards their chests.

"Hands behind your heads!" The soldier ordered and Alex lifted them in front of chest. "Of course," He said and sent two blasts at the soldiers, sending them flying to the wall. "Not!"

Polaris stretched out her hand again, this time unlocking the door without anyone disturbing her.

Inside there were more guards than Havok had expected. As the door opened, they all lifted their guns and aimed at them.

"This will get interesting," Clarice commented.

"Damn right it will," Lorna agreed. 

* * *

Standing on the rooftop and looking at the night sky was usually something Warren would appreciate. However, not tonight. His friends were inside the building on a shooting party and he was stuck to wait outside with one of Emma Frost's telepathic daughters. His team was supposed to get in last filling the role of the silent back-up if anything goes wrong with the others.

A lot of stuff could go wrong, but he liked to believe he was ready for all of them. Even if he liked to think that, it didn't make it true.

Warren was sure Betsy, Alex, Sean and Kitty would be alright. The same couldn't be said for the others. He had never seen any of them out on the field. These people had never trained in a specific environment to teach them to adapt to situations like the one in hand, which could turn them into liabilities.

He really didn't get why Emma would want most of them on the mission anyway.

 _'kill them all.'_ A voice in his head whispered.

 _'Shut up.'_ Warren pushed it in the back of his head as hard as he could and pretended he couldn't hear it.

As always, the Archangel choose a bad time to mess with his mind. When in his blue form, this voice was whispering to him, urging him to kill, so it could feed its own bloodthirsty desires.

How he got stuck with these two forms was a long story. It had started with an accident, which got his wings amputated. Warren couldn't live that way and had taken an offer proposed by Misted Sinister, a mad scientist and genetics expert, to restore his wings. He had done it, but also brainwashed him into serving Apocalypse, an ancient mutant who had wanted to rule the Earth.

With the help of the X-men, he had broken away from the brainwashing. With time his metal wings 'molted' and his skin returned back to normal.

Of course, in an X-man's life normal couldn't stay for long. Warren had been attacked by a brainwashed Wolfsbane, who had ripped his wings off. On their place the metal ones had regrown and he gained the ability to revert between the two personas.

 _'Your turn,'_ Psylocke's thought echoed in his head.

 _'On it,'_ Warren thought back.

 _'Are you managing?'_

 _'Of course, Bets. Have a little faith in me,_ ' He could feel her eye-rolling and smirked.

 _'Good luck,Warren.'_

 _'Good luck to you too.'_

"Time to go," he said and stretched out his metal wings. They were the tools, which would get them in. "Step away, this might get messy," Archangel ordered and Esme nodded once before backing away.

Taking a breath, Warren flew up, his wings clapping upwards, carrying him. The sky was black, only a few stars distinguishing it from a dark, empty void. The night wind lashed against the skin on his face, its coldness stinging.

Archangel stopped in mid-air and looked down. He was high enough to pierce through the roof now. With a quick manoeuvre Warren dived downhill, pressing his wings closer to his back to gain speed.

With lighting speed he reached his target, breaking trough the reinforced concrete in seconds.

The dust in the air made him cough and screwed up his eyes. He looked up and spotted Esme leaning over the hole, which Warren had created. An alarm turned on and red light illuminated the hallway. Its annoying ringing made him wince.

"Jump," He urged the blond, sending a glance towards the empty space in front of him every now and then to make sure no one could surprise him.

Esme sat on the edge of the hole and pushed herself down. She beat the dust out of her clothes as she landed and looked ahead only to see a few agents running towards them with raised guns, pointing at both.

Archangel launched himself ahead, hovering above the floor just a few meters. Using his wings, he sliced through the guards's weapons leaving them vulnerable.

Esme's blue eyes glowed and the soldiers collapsed on the floor one by one. Both mutants continued walking ahead, until they reached the end of the hallway. The door leading towards the first lab, from which they would extract information, was locked with some kind of electronic lock. Warren stretched his wing, ready to cut it open, but the close sound of gunshots distracted him.

Acting on pure instinct he covered himself and Esme with the metal wing. The bullets bounced off it and hit the floor. The agents kept shooting at them without luck.

 _'This weak creatures think they can hurt us. I will show the-'_

'No!'

The bullets kept bouncing off and Warren decided that that was enough. He flew at the guards ready to pierce trough them as if they were nothing. In the last second he pulled himself back.

 _'I told you to stop.'_ A bullet managed to hit his shoulder and he hissed in pain.

Before the Archangel could start another attack towards the guards, Esme broke into their minds.

Warren watched as they turned their guns towards themselves and shot, collapsing dead on the ground. Blood spilled on the ground and he had to look away.

"What the hell!" He turned towards Esme, his voice a shout.

"I stopped them," She calmly replied, a smirk playing on her lips.

He wanted to say more, but controlling his own blood thirst was hard enough, without screaming at Esme. Warren forced himself to calm down. Rachel's and every mutant's in this facility's life, depended on this mission. Going on a rampage against the soldiers would do more harm then good. There was a big chance he would slip his control and end up hurting Esme.

Warren swept towards the door and sliced trough the lock, ignoring the smell of blood in the hallway. The door opened without a problem and he hurried inside, followed by Esme.

The lab's walls were white, as well as the floor and most of the equipment. There were lamps attached to the ceiling, their bright light forcing Warren to look away. A few scientists were staring at them helplessly, fear swimming in their eyes. _'They should damn right be afraid.'_ God knew how many innocent mutants they had tortured, turned them into a science experiment.

Quick steps echoed outside, coming with the clanking of guns and growled orders.

"Don't let them get out."

Warren's head jerked to the source of the sound and he took a step forward. Esme put a hand on his shoulder, the sudden motion forcing him to meet her eyes. She gave him a short nod. "I have a plan."

"Does it involve murder," Warren asked and she shook her head. "Then go for it."

A blue glow enveloped her eyes and she smirked. "Go to the door, stand in a row and stop the soldiers."

One by one the scientists did as she said. By the time the soldiers have arrived, they met a blockade formed by bodies, who wouldn't let them shoot, using themselves as shields.

"Let's finish this and get out. I can't hold them for long," Esme said, trough gritted teeth.

Warren didn't waste any time and ran to the nearest computer, plugging the device Sage had given him before they started. After two long minutes, the little flash drive cracked the security of the data base. Sage had all the access to the data that she needed. Good thing that everything these days was in digital form.

"Hurry up!" Esme shouted and Warren destroyed the computer device, slashing it with his wing. A feeling of accomplishment raised in his gut, but he felt that that wasn't enough.

Concentrating, Archangel shot metal feathers out of his wings. They pierced through the machines with ease, destroying them in the progress. He wanted to make sure that nothing could be saved. No DNA samples, no data on anyone.

He was about to turn to Esme, when a gun was fired. Archangel launched himself forward and tried to protect Esme from the bullet, but it was too late. The deadly object had made contact with her skin and the Frost had bend her body to the ground from the impact.

Then she stood up, her skin shining from the reflecting light of the lamps. The bullet was on the ground with a shabby head.

Warren smirked from the surprise. It looked like the sisters had inherited more than just their mother's telepathy. The surprise was quickly replaced by insight. Emma couldn't use telepathy while in diamond form. He turned his gaze and met a a gun's muzzle in front of his face.

Before the soldier could react he stabbed his wing in his left thigh and the man's face twisted in pain, dropping the gun on the ground. Warren kicked it and continued to the next soldier.

Every once and then he slipped a glance towards Esme, to check how she was keeping up. The noise from cracking bones pointed him to think that all was okay. Soon enough, all of the soldiers were on the ground, some unconscious and some not so lucky.

Some of the cowardly scientists had managed to run out of the now useless lab. Archangel turned to the rest, eyeing them up and down. _'What a pathetic group of people.'_

"The building will be destroyed in less than an hour. You better run," He warned them through gritted teeth, the voice in his head making the words come out harder.

 _'Just kill them now. They are weak.'_

The low hiss filled his head as terrible as always. For a moment Warren was about to cover his ears in a pathetic attempt to make it stop, but he knew it wouldn't work.

 _'No!'_

Esme was standing a few meters behind him, her arms crossed over her chest in a clear sign of her impatience and annoyance.

Archangel ignored the protesting voice in his mind and followed her out of the room. Another group of soldiers was waiting for them outside and started shooting as soon as they had spotted them.

Esme continued to walk towards them, not bothered by the glancing off of her skin bullets. Warren was warding of the objects with the help of his wings.

When he was close enough he fired at them, the covered in chemical projectiles paralyzing the soldiers, unfortunate enough to be hit.

The second wave of soldiers was defeated at last. Warren and Esme finally could catch their breaths.

"We need to get to the fifth floor," Archangel reminded of their next target. Unlike the sixth floor, where only one lab was stationed, on the fifth one was the DNA sample storage and the place where they experimented with the new drugs.

After all, the late hour was in their advantage. Most of the facilities were closed already and the lack of scientists was making it easier. Well there was enough security that was for sure.

"I wasn't aware you can turn to diamond," Warred pointed out and Esme gave him a quick smirk, "It is our secret weapon," She said and continued ahead, her heels clicking on the floor. Warren just hoped the others were doing okay. 

* * *

"Goddammit!" Sean muttered under his breath as he and Lauren sped down the hallway and made a spontaneous right turn. He quickly glanced back to check if she was still behind him.

"We will need back-up," Banshee said, his words coming in snatches, because of the running. He didn't expect this floor be as full of security as it was. He and Lauren couldn't overpower all of them. _'What a dammed luck we have.'_

"They are coming!" Lauren exclaimed and Sean heard the loud steps coming closer.

"Push them back," He ordered, surprised of the authority in his own voice. Sean wasn't the type someone would describe as a leader. Even as a teenager he was the goofy easy-going guy that cracked jokes with his friends all of the time. As they grew he got opportunities to try out his leadership skills in different situations, but it didn't come quite naturally and he himself wasn't a fan of it.

He watched, panting as Lauren created a shield pushing it back towards the guards with great speed. The sound of bouncing off bullets filled the hallways like music in a concert hall.

Some of the guards were thrown to the wall, falling on their backs with a loud 'tump', while others had managed to scatter, hiding behind the corners, where the hallway split in two.

"Get behind me!" He commanded and Lauren did so without wasting a second. As the first soldier showed from behind the corner Sean screamed, directing the sonic waves toward him.

"Behind us!" Lauren exclaimed and another sound of a ricocheted bullet filled the small space, this time coming from behind him. Without looking back, Banshee kept screaming, everyone who fell under the influence of the powerful sound, dropping to their knees, clinging hands to their ears in an attempt to stop the piercing pain.

He turned around to see Lauren knocking some guards into the wall, which cleared the path in front of them. The duo ran to the end of the hall and took a sharp left turn.

In front of them another group of guards was standing, waiting.  
Some of the others have asked for back-up. How could there be so many? Sean was starting to get irritated and the throbbing pain in his muscles and throat wasn't helping. They were fighting off the guards for over what seemed to be an eternity, but they kept coming at them in waves.

He was exhausted and so was Lauren. Sean didn't know how long they could continue like that, but they kept fighting. The most important part was to keep the guards as far away as possible from the underground level. Alex and the others got enough hounds and security to deal with as it was. Entertaining the other units and collecting information was their mission. Banshee could just pray the plan would work out and they would save Rachel and the others. His head was getting dizzy just of the thought of the torture they were going through. That helped him keep fighting, focusing his concentration. A new wave of energy filled him and Sean screamed, ignoring the pain in his throat, ignoring the painful screams of the guards, he just kept screaming, letting every bit of frustration and anger out. He couldn't let them hurt Lauren or anyone else. It was Hus job to protect had always been. Sean wanted to make sure they would stay on the ground once they fell.

 _'You will kill them!'_ The realization rushed through his mind and he broke out of it. In front of him were all the bodies of the soldiers laying on the ground, stunned from the super sonic scream. They were more than they were before. He assumed a back-up unit had tried to approach, but were caught by the scream. With his peripheral vision he noticed Lauren watching him. Her expression reminded him of that of a kid, seeing its hero in a different light. Sean had found out that Lauren thought of the X-men as heroes. Now, she watched him as he almost killed a bunch of people. A feeling of shame poured in his body.

"We gotta move, there will be more coming," Sean said, in an attempt to take her eyes off of himself. Staring made him even more uncomfortable.

Lauren blinked a few times and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but decided against it and nodded at last, quickly moving past the guards on the ground. Sean followed, but stopped near one of the bodies, kneeling beside it to check for a pulse. Luckily he was alive. Banshee left out a relieved sign and continued pacing behind Lauren.

For a couple of minutes, everything was quiet, even if a fly passed by, it could have been heard. No more shouts, or sounds of footsteps. Sean knew better than to think it had passed. Without letting his guard down he notified Lauren with a motion to be quiet and crept to the corner of the hallway. He peaked over and saw a couple of soldiers guarding a door just a few feet away.

Sean pulled himself behind the corner again and looked at Lauren. He lifted five fingers for five guards and she firmly nodded. Both jumped from behind the corner at the same time. Banshee directed his scream at the two closest guys, while Lauren pushed the others towards the wall with her shield, instantly knocking them unconscious.

This was the second room on the floor that they had to clean up. Their activity in the first one was actually the reason they were chased through the whole floor. One of the damn scientists had pressed the panic button without them noticing.

Lauren pushed the door open with a big shield and they both entered. This was the place where they actually turned the hounds. The room's walls and ceiling were white as in every other room and there were bright lamps attached to the ceiling. Basically, it was the same place they had been just a few hours ago. Sean could see Lauren's expression twisting with anger with his peripheral vision.

However something else quickly attracted their attention. A couple of people were gathered in front of a big metal table, everyone fussing over whoever was on there. _'Another mutant they are torturing.'_ Sean thought and his hands clenched into fists. He didn't even had to say anything to Lauren for her to knock the scientists away. One of them moved out of the way the last second, diving down towards the floor.  
The middle-aged man pressed a button on his belt and the automatic metal restraints clicked open, releasing the mutant.

"Kill them!" He hissed.

The mutant quickly stood up, facing both Sean and Lauren. The familiar red hair and green eyes bore into his mind as an image of a young girl appeared before his vision. A distant memory resurfaced. A memory of the same girl, but younger, watching movies with him and the others, laughing and smiling. He hadn't noticed who was strapped to that table. Only the thought about one more mutant being turned into a monster made him see red and nothing else mattered. Sean blinked a few times as yell of surprise escaped his lips.

"Rachel!?"

* * *

I am finally here with a new chapter and some very important news.

 **Important:**

I have decided that this story isn't written or going the way I want to. My writing style has changed quite a lot since I have started and I am not satisfied with most of the chapters or the characters. For the new year I have decided to rework and edit major parts of the story. I will add more conversations, character moments and flesh out the story. I will post all of the reworked chapters at once when I finish them as well as a new chapter. Thanks for the attention!


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